Mighty Milo Muffins

Some Wednesdays are just Wednesday - other Wednesdays are hump days.  I'll never forget the first time I heard that term.  I was seventeen and my then boyfriend came over for dinner.  We all sat at the dinner table and the usual jovial over excited and volumous conversation was going on.  This was only heightened by the visitor to which my younger sisters were trying to be 'cool' for.

We lamented about our days, Mum's and Dad's at work, mine and the boyfriend's at school - when my boyfriend cheerfully announced: 'Oh well - at least it's hump day!' and gave me a nudge.  I hadn't heard the term at that point and clearly neither had my parents whose eyes had grown quite large and were almost sending laser-like glares in our direction. 'You know, Monday-Tuesday, you get up to the hump of Wednesday and then Thursday Friday down the hump to the weekend'... My mother broke into laughter and my father chuckled, whether from relief or seeing the horror on my face, I'm not sure.

Hump days quite regularly take me back to that dinner table and I chuckle.


Ingredients: (makes 6 large or 12 small muffins)
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
2/3 cup milo
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
60g butter, softened


Method:
Preheat oven to 190 degrees c.

In a mixer add all ingredients, mix until smooth.

Pour into muffin or cupcake papers until 3/4 full.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

You may choose to make these as a quick lunchbox treat or a dessert - great warm with icecream and chocolate sauce... just the thing the get you over the hump.

So today, is it Wednesday or 'Hump Day' for you?

What Australian PR's think: What do you think blogs in Australia have to offer brands?

Brands make an appearance on my blog as an extension of my every day life,   Whether organically or via the PR channels, I do try and keep my content as relevant as possible and avoid 'over-informing' my readers - their trust in what I say is paramount and it's important to me that I can be 110% honest and transparent about my experiences with brands.

I recognise I do have influence when it comes to brands, this is something as bloggers I think we really need to take on board responsibly and consciously. It is precisely for that reason my my involvement with brands has been select and few - and truly brands I know, use and trust.

I asked some of my favourite PR's who are working with bloggers to increase public awareness of their clients' brands: What do you think blogs in Australia have to offer brands?

Lizzie Culverhouse, Senior Account Manager - One Green Bean:

One of the aspects of working with mum bloggers that we appreciate the most is the knowledge that any products or services we approach mum bloggers to review will get a fair and honest write up.  We’ve found that mum bloggers often want to test things with their children, giving their kids' feedback as well as their own, accompanied by photos of the family interacting with the product.  This type of coverage isn’t something print media offers, yet is so important when it comes to items such as toys.  The reader comments following a post are also important and our clients value reading these to hear consumers reactions and experiences with their brands.

Mandy Griffiths, Account Manager - Porter Novelli

We are currently going through a believe-ability crisis due to the overwhelming amount of marketing messages flying at people. Blogs have something not many other platforms can offer – authenticity.

Kat Peden, Senior Account Manager - Verve Communications

Blogs help give a brand an authentic voice. They are perceived as being much more ‘trustworthy’. The general public has become increasingly wise to the fact that traditional media can lack credibility, particularly with high-profile people or brands ‘outing’ media for their ‘false claims’ via Twitter.

As a nation, we no longer take ‘news’ or ‘reviews’ at face value. We are more likely to seek a second or third opinion before we make a decision, such as crowd sourced review sites (i.e. TripAdvisor, Amazon). A blog could end up shaping a person’s opinion, even swaying their purchasing decision – a platform brands can no longer afford to ignore.


To support this, research suggests women in particular respond and act on the opinion of others if it's someone they trust. Shespot recently did a survey, revealing 63% of women purchase based on a referral from a friend or family member in comparison to a brand’s website (33%) or magazine advert (18%).  It is evident women want to hear from real women, not a source that has commercial interests.

• So as a PR, blogger or a reader, where do YOU think blogs offer brands?  
• How do you rank the advice/recommendation of a blogger say above an advertisement, a friend or your mother?  
• Do you read blogs that you think have TOO much brand involvement, or is there no such thing?

[image credit]

A bit on the side: Swede and parsnip bake

I have told you how I'm utterly addicted to food magazines right?  Well every now and then when you're flicking through in a dream-like-state a recipe will pop out at you and say 'Make me!'.  Not that long ago it happened with an advertorial(!!) - this time it's with a side dish.

I love swedes (the vegetable, yes those of you from Sweden I love you too) and when they are in season I use them a lot - I put them in my mash potato - the girls love it and particularly when you have spicy or sweet sauces they mashed swede is just the perfect accompaniment and can really carry a spice very well.

I had a few to use up and seeing this recipe in this month's issue of BBC Good Food (Australia) (if you don't subscribe I seriously suggest you do, just buy one issue you'll understand why) it was instantly on my 'to make list.  It's really easy and not that much extra effort than a mash - but really, I would just eat it on it's own.

Kids will like it because it's got a bit of sweetness to it - just don't them them it's good for them OK?


Adapted from Good Food, June Issue 2011
Ingredients:
2 swedes, peeled and diced
2 large or 6 small parsnips, peeled and diced
2 tb golden syrup
2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
80g butter
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs


Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees c
Steam or boil your swedes and parsnips until soft

Mash with 60g of your butter and golden syrup, transfer over to a greased baking dish

Mix through thyme and sprinkle over the breadcrumbs.  Using a fork mix some of the breadcrumbs through and blob the remaining butter on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and crispy on top.

Serve!  (devour)  Tell me, what's your favourite vege side dish?

Sunday baking project: Sweet carrot and pecan pull-aparts

There's something utterly self indulgent about fresh bread from the oven - and apart from the therapeudic process (for me anyway) of making the bread, proving, shaping and baking the bread - the reward of fresh bread (and butter) - there is nothing like it.

This morning I surveyed my fridge - and after farmgate yesterday I realised I had overindulged in some produce - namely carrots and swedes - swedes are no issue to use - soup, mash, bake but carrots are different - carrot cake, blanch and freeze.. no.  I didn't want to do those - I wanted to bake and I thought the best way I combine the need to use the carrots and my passion for Sunday morning bread making was just one thing - carrot bread.

I found a recipe by my favourite baker - Leila Lindholm but I didn't feel like using all the nuts and seeds she puts in hers so I mixed it up a little, made it into a pull-apart and the rest we shall say is.. in my family's belly and stashed for later!!


Ingredients:
250 vegetable juice (I used carrot/orange V8)
1 cup skim milk, warm (not hot) with 2tb golden syrup in it.
2 tb melted butter (50g)
1 1/2 tb mixed spice
1 tb dry yeast
4 medium carrots, grated
1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
5 cups plain flour (plus a little on hand just in case your carrots are juicy!)
1 tb golden syrup, extra


Method:
In a bowl or jug add the juice, milk, melted butter, mixed spice and yeast.

Grate your carrots and chop up your pecans (you could use walnuts instead if you like)

In your mixer or in your large bowl mix your liquid ingredients with the nuts and carrot.

Gradually add flour, cup by cup and combine until an elastic dough.

Place in a greased bowl with some clingfilm on top and leave to prove for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c.  Grease some tins or a baking tray and divide your dough in half.  Roll each half into a sausage shape and cut up your dough and roll into the balls of about 2inches in diameter.

Place into tins with a little bit of room to move (I ran out of trays!)

 Bake for 25-30 minutes, until coked through.  Mix the remaining tb of golden syrup with 1 1/2 tb water and brush over the bread when it comes out of the oven.

Suitable to freeze and reheat for up to 2 months.

Sound good to you?  Who wants to make it?

A few pleasant surprises this farmgate trip

I look forward to our monthly farmgate trails - after doing this for two years it feels like we're visiting friends when we see everyone at M & A butchery at Wilberforce (a family business now passed down from the Dad to identical twin sons!) and then across to Riverview produce, another family who sell direct from the farm - you can see more about both here.

We went to the butcher first and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw SALE signs at the front - because seriously, this meat that doesn't travel more than 200 metres (It's the only remaining Sydney butchery that has it's own abbatoir) is the best value for money out there - but yes there was a sale going on.

My monthly meat came to a whopping $130.  This included 2 whole chickens, big leg of boneless pork shoulder, 3 large pork chops (to mince) 2kg lamb forequarter chops (to mince) 3kg topside beef mince, 2 kg beef sausages, 1 rack of american style pork ribs, 1 pork belly, 2 kg yearling blade steak, 1 kg bacon.  Crazy right?

Then we got another surprise happening upon this sign:

I'm a sucker for a street vendor , especially if you're getting it direct from a farmer.  Especially if it's produce.. and even better for me, honey (I adore honey!).

And honey there was!

 Creamed honey and honey with honeycomb!  Beautiful isn't it?

$8 for the creamed honey and honey with honeycomb and $10 for a litre of regular honey - all from a family farm 10 minutes away - all whitebox honey too (delicious!).  I just couldn't refuse - and took one of each.  If you are interested - pop onto Castlereagh Road, Richmond and pass Crowleys Lane and the orange and honey bloke will be there if the weather isn't bad and it's the weekend.


View Larger Map

Then we went to Riverside produce to get our veges and eggs - and another surprise!  Daniel (the farmer's son who is 5) couldn't wait to show us the newest additions to his family - Goats!

Aren't they cute?  I love goats - can't explain why.. just do.

Daniel also showed us his chooks and bunnies too!

After the farm, popped by the local salvos and picked up some copper baking tins for $1 a piece too.  I love old bakeware....

Great day, and the bonus is I have all the inspirational produce to cook now!  Hooray for farmgate!

Update on frilly newsletters

Just letting everyone know that newsletters will now be monthly - this will co-incide with announcing the monthly promotion each month, gardening tips and season savvy focus of course!

I sent out a quick one to update everyone on the recent goings on in and around Frills - you can have a look here - feel free to share it with friends (there's even a little discount in there for everyone on the First foods I fed my frills eBook until the end of June).

Enjoy!

Our crazy family - a video

You might know that my eldest frill, Eloise turned seven a few weeks ago and we bought her an iPod touch.  I figured that it was probably going to technologically have a longer life than any of the other educational hand-held games out there - given that the apps cost a lot less than cartridges too.  It had a camera, and she could play music.  I downloaded the educational games I had on my iPhone for her and hubby put Katy Perry on there for her (yes, I know she has no taste, she's seven!).

I underestimated how much fun she would have with it and over the past few weeks she's taken countess videos and photos of us all - and it took me 90 minutes to download them all to our external hard drive last night!    Looking through the photos it struck me just how many photos she'd taken of us and what it said about us - basically crazy.. so I put this together for her as a surprise - back on her iPod so she can play it and have a giggle.. with you guys of course!

(Tide is my Dad (pronounced Tide-ey - welsh for Grandfather - which is actually meant to be spelt Taid but hey, that's how we spell it in our family) and Nanny is my grandmother... and well Dougall is just.. Dougall.)

Happy Friday everyone!

Warm me up: Easy MICROWAVE banana coconut tapioca pudding

No, I haven't won the lottery.  Yes, I bought a banana.  But I bought a few sugar bananas and you need only one for this recipe so if you're needing your fix of banana but feel guilty at the thought of spending $3.00 for one of them, don't worry.  One won't hurt and we need to support our farmers who are doing it tough right?

First time I ever had tapioca (or sago as some know it) was in Malaysia about 10 years ago.  I was in Kuala Lumpur for work and met up with an old school friend who was working and living there.   He took me to a 'bubble tea' house and we took the monorail to this quaint little place designed to fit it seemed 30 people seated in an area the size of my bedroom.    Everyone was friendly and Russell told me I was going to love it as I watched the huge milkshake-like glasses with enormous straws move past me.  Eventually our order arrived.  It was like milky sweet flavoured tea and at the bottom were little balls of jelly-like bubbles (the sago) which explained the width of the straw.

My first sip I was mixture of excited and perplexed. The texture of the sago reminded me of boogers but the tea was all so good.  It felt so naughty.  It tasted so great.  They were beautiful and cold.  It was hot and sweaty outside - we made our way through the menu and between us I think tried the entire menu.   We had dinner and I headed back to my hotel room.  It was a lovely evening.

Next day I was off to Bangkok but I couldn't move.  I felt like someone had kicked me fair in the back and I was holding my breath.  I struggled to get on the plane and called into the office and gave my apologies as I didn't feel well.   I called my family - my Dad being in the Navy had done his fair share of tours of south-east Asia and I thought he might know what to do.  My Dad asked me exactly where the pain was and asked me what I had eaten/drank in the past 24 hours.  I told him about the bubble tea house and he laughed and asked how many I had:  'Oh about 8 or 9 of them'.  He said 'Liss, you've given your kidneys an overload of tannin.  You don't drink tea normally - your poor kidneys are teaching you a lesson'.

And it seemed they were.  On Dad's orders I drank a lot of (bottled) water that night, about six litres and by the next afternoon I was fine.  That night I went out for dinner with colleagues and was served coconut banana tapioca pudding - and fell in love.  Not a booger in sight. Please give this a try if you haven't had it before - the kids will love it and so will you!

Ingredients:

2/3 cup raw sago or tapioca 

400g tin coconut cream

1 cup milk

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large sugar banana

Method:

In a microwave rice cooker, place all ingredients with exception of the banana and stir well.

Place in microwave for 15 minutes.  Remove, and leave to sit for 5-10 minutes.

Chop banana and then stir through chopping it up a bit more with the spoon as you go.

Serve!

So friends - have you tried sago or tapioca before?  Do you think you might?

Frills in the Press: The frills and I in our local paper (a bit behind the scenes)

It's been a few drinks (posts) between recipes hasn't it?  Don't worry there's one coming up later today....

Last week I had a phone interview with my local paper, the paper that I've appeared in as a child at school, where I was interviewed as a teenage naval cadet, where my 21st was announced, my engagement, wedding and babies were all announced - my twinnies featured in a multiple birth special a few years ago and now today, this blog and my lovely frills feature again.

The interview was very pleasant - we were discussing my involvement in the Australian Good Taste Readers issue and what a wonderful experience it was - and of course my love of all things food.  But it was my frills who totally stole the show at the photo shoot, they are all-too-obliging for a photograph, and I can only blame myself can't I?

 Eloise was very excited to find out we were making donut muffins for the shoot.

 Even better, they got to taste the mix for the photo!

 They were all absolute naturals... bless.

And as soon as my back is turned, there is Eloise, taking pics of her own.  hehe.

Here's the article:

 

First foods I fed my frills eBook - NOW AVAILABLE!

I remember having my first baby Eloise, the lead up to her first experiences of 'real food' was one of trepidation and excitement.  What do I feed her? What can she have?  How should I cook it? How do I store it?  What age can she have this/that/the other?  How do I ensure I'm giving her variety?

My Mum taught me a lot.  I read A LOT of books and called on advice from friends.  I used a lot of trial and error.  But I eventually got it right and I enjoyed doing it so much.  There is something quite wonderful about preparing food for your baby to experience for the first time.  It's a learning experience for both of you!

Second time around and only 18 months later I was giving first foods to my twins, Laura and Olivia.  My life was busier than ever with three babies under two.  At this time I really honed my skills in making healthy and fun food for my babies without spending hours each day chained to the stove and the blender.  This is not one of those stories.

'First food I fed my frills' is about what I did, what I used, tricks I learned and some key recipes that made it work.

I hope it works for you too!  

If you know someone who is pregnant or has a young baby - let them know!

You can instantly download and own the 'First food I fed my frills' for $5.00 here:

Some reviews:
Blossom Heart - 15th June 2011
Everything is Edible - 15th June 2011
Good Goog - 15th June 2011
Mahlimoo - 15th June 2011
Mummy to Five - 16th June 2011
Three L'il Princesses - 17th June 2011
Where's my Glow? - 16th June 2011

What Australian Bloggers think: how bloggers measure success of other bloggers

Us bloggers have these thoughts and sometimes we'll even externalise them into a blog post, a forum post or (even!) a 'real life' discussion.  I decided to bring together a group of bloggers of different genres and experience together to understand what Australian Bloggers think as a community, of themselves and of others, their relationships with brands, PR's, blogger platforms and few other things... stay tuned each fortnight..!

Today's question is : 
How do you measure success when you're reading/following a blog? i.e. that moment where you think 'wow, they've made it!  Is it followers, promotions, comments... anything in particular?

If I’m landing on a new blog, I admit to judging a book by its cover – if the design and layout of the blog looks appealing and professional then it gets its first tick.  Then it would be the level of engagement a blogger has with audience – how many followers they have, are they active on facebook and twitter, are they influential in their niche?   Jenny - Let the children play  [education] [18 months blogging]

I think if they have a book out, opportunities they have had, lots of followers and comments are a good guide or if I find out their traffic and go wow!
Corrie - Retro Mummy [craft, family] [5 years blogging]

Probably first and foremost followers, secondly promotions, if people are seeking them out, they must be doing ok.  Certainly comments is another obvious sign.

Mandy, A little space like home [personal, parenting] [3 months blogging]

Followers, activity on social media i.e if they are helpful , interesting and active.
Frank - Our Hiking Blog,[outdoors/hiking] and Cradle Mountain [tourism] [8 years blogging]                                                                                                           

Part of it is the amount of followers, but mostly it is about the amount of involved followers. There is no point in having thousands of followers if only a handful comment. Comments make the world go round!
Amy, MahliMoo  [craft, parenting] [6 months blogging]

I measure the success of an Australian blog by the reach they have - what kind of readers regularly visit? how many? How many people interact via comments,etc.
Stacey, Veggie Mama [craft, parenting] [15 months blogging]

I read the first paragraph of the first blog post I open, then assess the design.
James - Aussie Green Thumb  [gardening] [6 months blogging]

For me personally, I think it's a mix of everything - the wow factor, give aways, sponsored posts and overall blog presentation.
Melissa, One Crafty Mumma  [craft,family] [5 years blogging]

I probably look at followers first.  I also think that if they have a few giveaways they must be doing something right for if brands are wanting to work with them. And any bloggers in the Kidspot Top 50 is a success in my opinion.
Amelia, Wedding, babies Everything [family] [6 months blogging]

Followers is definitely a big part of it, but I think for me I measure the success of a blog on their engaged readership - mostly numbers of comments. I'm a hard core comment addict.

Zoey, Good Goog [personal, parenting] [2 years blogging]

So, what makes you think 'That's a successful blog/blogger' when you visit?