Sweet As Honey

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It's a funny coincidence that I was asked to review these products this week, because I had just started my detox from refined sugar. Be gone evil white sugar. And I was switching over to use a Stevia extract when 4 days into my new regime I broke out in hives! Did you know you can be allergic to Stevia? So while I didn't want to go back to white sugar, but also wanting to get the stevia rash out of my system before I tried anything else, I turned to my old friend.

Honey.

Ahhhh, the comfort of knowing I can eat sweet and be safe from skin breakouts.

And I have been finding there are so many uses for honey.

Mother Earth have just come out with a new range of honey, made by our very own, precious New Zealand Bees. And my family have promptly made quick work of the Clover Blend Honey and it is nearly all gone.

This is the flavour of my childhood. Clover honey is my favourite. It is a warm, rich flavour of New Zealand hills and meadows and sunny days and the sweet, sweet engulfing aroma of our provincial apiaries and hives. I love it!

So this week I have used the Mother Earth Honey in baking for the kids' school lunches (my rice-bubble cake recipe is here), smoothies, honey butter, caught one of the kids eating it by the spoonful, honey on toast for breakfast, salad dressings, spoonfuls drizzled over porridge, and for one sweet boy, a hot lemon drink to soothe his coughing.

Have you ever made sweet butter? It is one of those things that I miss from my time in the USA. It's really good to use with bread or vegetables, or cheese and crackers. Maybe some of my American readers can suggest other uses for it - but you should try it, it's really a taste sensation.

Just soften any amount of butter and when it is soft enough to mix, pour some of the Mother Earth liquid honey into the butter mix to taste. Then use a spatula to mix it all in until it's whipped up lovely and soft and creamy.

I have used the liquid honey quite a bit this week. Usually, I melt what I need in a small pot, but to have it on hand without having to make another dirty dish has been helpful, especially since I have been making so many smoothies.

Do you like honey? And what do you use it for?

The Mother Earth range of honeys are now available nationwide in the grocery stores, and range in prices, from the small just-for-me 250gram pot to a large 500gram family-sized pot.

Fine Chocolate and Fine Clothes - a special High Tea

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Last week, instead of hitting the cafes for our weekly ritual get-together my friend D had a marvellous idea. "Let's go to Annah Stretton and have a high tea."
"Let's go to Annah Stretton and eat chocolate." I suggested.

What could be better? Fine chocolate and fine clothes.

Donovan's Chocolates sent me two packages of their newest flavours, Peppermint Delight and Dark Chocolate Caramels to try. Taking them into the AnnahS store with wine provided and good friends to chat with, we were there for nearly 2 hours just chatting, and laughing and eating and drinking.

The highlight of the high tea has to be the chocolates. We all loved them. The Peppermint Delight was the winning favourite with all the girls. Instead of the white, syrupy minty filling that you find in other mint chocolates, these were unique in their centre - with the texture of turkish delight, and a lovely soft feeling as you bite down into it, with a refreshing mint flavour.

The chewy caramels were yummy too, but the peppermint delight was far and away the best, and the fact that it had that point of difference in the soft centre made them all the more delightful.

Some of the girls and I were saying how they'd make a nice gift. It would be quite a good idea to keep a few boxes stashed away for those times you need something special.

You might recognise the brand. Donovans are a New Zealand-initiated family business - and their chocolate can be found in most of the big grocery stores (New World, PacNSave and Countdown as well as Nosh), and the 1 pound (454gms) box is really generous. Even after stuffing ourselves full of chocolate we still had some of the Peppermint Delight left over, and V who loved them the most, wrapped them up in tissue and stashed them in her handbag.

We had a lot of fun tasting the chocolates and laughing and talking. It's always nice to dress up and do something a bit special isn't it, and spend time with friends.

AnnahS has so many wonderful clothes to look at. Talk about colour! My favourite colour to wear at the moment is…...

And the shoes!! Very Marie Antoinette, don't you think?

We had a lovely time together playing ladies.

Summer Barbecue with Christmas Treats

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My favourite thing about living in the Bay of Plenty is not the fact that we live near the sea, or the sheer beauty of the area or the amazing, friendly people that we have met. My most favourite thing about living here is having family close by.

Over the weekend, me and Rob and his two brothers who live here and my two sisters in law went to see a play together on Saturday night. A real, live play in a small, local theatre. But before we did that we all got together for an alfresco dinner - a very casual, (it's-only-family) bring-a-salad BBQ. I think it's our first of the season!

And I bought along Christmas treats from my friends at Bakers Delight. A Christmas cake and box of Fruit Mince pies.

I love balmy summer evenings when you're sitting outside with good food and company. There's nothing to beat it.

I took along my favourite summer salad, the Cranberry and Spinach Salad,

and we had home-grown steak, lamb that melted in your mouth, and sausages and yummy potatoes with butter.

As a little treat after a meal, the Bakers Delight Christmas Cake and Mince Tarts were perfect to take along. There was nothing left when we had finished!

To be honest, I have tried to bake Christmas fruit mince pies before - but they can be quite labour-intensive and sometimes people (cough cough) can be fussy about what goes into their fruit mince. I've tried buying it, making my own and never quite get it right, and sometimes even the generic pies that you buy in the supermarket don't quite hit the mark either.

But these Christmas mince pies rock!  The pastry is light and the fruit mince has just the right amount of citrus - and that's not just me saying it either, my sisters-in-law said that (and they are true domestic goddesses), and so did my teenage son and cousin! That's a pretty good vote, if you ask me! They're just as good as homebaking, I reckon.

The Christmas cake was amazing! I was worried at first that it might be a bit dry - sometimes bought Christmas cakes can be that way, but the Bakers Delight cake is not like that at all, and it's really generous with the fruity goods too.

Here is where you can search your area to see if there's a Bakers Delight store near you.

This is such a wonderful time of the year. It's crazy-busy I know, and I really do miss the snow-crusted white Christmasses of the northern hemisphere, but there is something festive and lovely about a colourful, warm summer Christmas with family and outdoor dining and still having the tasty Christmas treats with their fruity, festive flavours that are so traditional and embedded into our celebrations.

I also learned on Saturday night, that this is the sign of a good wine. I don't know what it's called (someone might be able to remind me), but see how you can see those little ripples clinging along the glass (above the wine). Sign of a good wine.

I hope you are all enjoying the lead up to Christmas!

Baker's Delight Giveaway

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To be frank, Baker's Delight is one of my favourite foodie shops. I just love that fresh bread aroma when you walk into their bakery. And one of my little secrets, when I'm especially busy and have to go somewhere and take some baking is to quickly duck in and grab something yummy to take.

But you cannot beat their Hot Cross Buns. I have tried - several years in a row - when I was going through my self-sufficiency stage, to make my own Hot Cross Buns, and the results were not pretty. It usually took me all day to make the dough and the results simply weren't worth the effort. Have you ever heard of Hot Cross FlatBread? No, I didn't think so.
Now, I know this is probably due to my sadly-lacking baking skills, because I have friends who seem to churn them out like a pro. But I can't. I can't make gravy and I can't make hot cross buns! That's just the simple truth.

So when Baker's Delight asked our family to review some of their buns and host a giveaway, I jumped at the chance.
They really are the closest thing you will get to homemade. Better even, because you haven't had to slave over the oven. The kids love them, and they have lots of fruit in them. The chocolate buns were a huge hit with the children - just because anything with chocolate is, and it's a unique take on the traditional bun.

I am giving away three $10 vouchers to Baker's Delight, so if you want to be part of the fruity yumminess, leave your name in the comment section.

The Minefield of School Lunches

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When the children first started at school, I really enjoyed making their lunches every night.
But now, with four lunchboxes to get organised, the novelty of that has slowly worn off in my desperation to find food that is interesting, healthy, nourishing and will actually get eaten.

My stand-by are ham sandwiches, and if the pantry is really empty then it's vegemite sandwiches. The kindergarten that Alice is going to this year insist on healthy food. And they check. At her last kindy they were more relaxed about it, but the kindy food police are most definitely on the warpath and I did get told off for putting a tiny little easter egg into Alice's lunchbox the first week she was there.

So, no more little lolly treats for Alice.
So it's ham sandwiches, fruit, fruit and more fruit, homebaking is allowed (what a relief), and I do manage to get away with a little packet of bagel bites.
But this week I have discovered a little treat for her - and actually all the kids - that is healthy and that they love and I don't get slapped over the hand for!

The school where the older children go, doesn't actually mind what I put in the lunchboxes. To the extent that my children tend to share their lunches out with friends who don't bring enough food. I do have a tendency to overload their lunchboxes. I figure that they are using up all kinds of energy in their day at school, not to mention all the physical activity and that they walk home most days. So I like to think that they've got enough food to keep them going through the day. I was really surprised to hear from my son that he gives away some of his food, because some of friends only have an apple and a jam sandwich to eat all day. These are boys who are at a crucial growing stage in their early teens, and I was truly shocked.

I was asked to review a product by Mother Earth. Their fabulous Fruit Sticks which come in little packets perfect for the lunchboxes.
Now, to be honest, my kids are normally not fans of muesli bars or fruit sticks like this, so I was interested to try these out and see if the kids liked them. The two we tested were Apricot and Chocolate and Raspberry.

I told them that they had to give me their honest opinion. Even if they hated them.
I tried one myself, and they are really delicious. The kids loved them and asked for a second one straight away. I put the boxes back in the pantry, but a few minutes later what do I find, but Miss Alice sneaking her hand into one of them.  So I put them higher up on the shelf!

So, if you are looking for something yummy and nutricious, and that kindy will approve of, the Mother Earth fruit sticks are great! And they're priced well too. There are 8 bars in a box for $3.49 (Countdown), and that will last me two school days - if I keep the boxes high enough where little fingers can't get into them. It just helps that I have something different to add to the variety of their lunchboxes.

Made in New Zealand too.

A Christmas Tea Party and Planning Session

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In the space of the next two weeks, I have a massive list of things to get through.
A boy's 8th birthday part tomorrow with no less than 17 children.
A family party on Sunday (the actual birthdate), to sing Happy Birthday - which means 2 cakes to be made.
I also have prizegivings and morning teas at school next week, and a Christmas Party on Saturday night that I am hosting. Following that, we are packing up for a Christmas at the beach, and all the little things in between, such as hospital appointments, sailing lessons, baking and wrapping and shopping that need to get done.... so last night Rob and I sat down for our first, of many, planning sessions
Homemade hot chai, and Christmas cake from Bakers Delight.....

And before we knew it, it was half gone already! Ooops.
But it was so easy. Light and nutty and spicy and fruity, it was so easy to have another slice. If you don't really like heavy fruit cake, this would be perfect.

Today, Alice and I finished it off with a couple of mini Christmas cake muffins. Our own little Christmas tea-party. There was a powercut here, right through the city, in the middle of a storm too, and at 2pm in the afternoon it was a little dark and brooding for this time of year, so nice to warm it up with hot tea (and milo) and Christmassy food.

Alice rather got into it!