Christmas sweet platter in minutes

What do you do when the husband mumble about wanting to take a plate to his office morning tea at 9 p.m in the night?

 My first reaction was to clobber him on the head with a blunt weapon. However, you dont do that to the man who you are married to for 34 years so I grit my teeth and head for the pantry

I had to come up with something and I had to take a dish to a Christmas party I was attending the next day. Taking a platter of strawberries with a store bought chocolate dip was not going to happen as shops were closed at the time.

I rummaged in the pantry and found a can of crushed pineapple and I remembered a dish I had first made using the recipe on the back of a Dole's crushed pineapple. Bingo!

This is possibly the easiest, prettiest and a popular sweet I have made by tarting up the original recipe from the back of the can. I've made the basic version, a gluten free version, a dairy free version and a paleo version which is popular with the figure/diet/wellness concious lot that I associate with.

Unfortunately there is NO sugarfree version. After all it is a Christmas platter


Tropical Coconut truffles - Basic version:

Ingredients:

1 can crushed pineapple

1 packet of Arnott's Marie Biscuits

1 can condensed milk

1.5 cups dessicated coconut (not too fine) - half cup for rolling and 1 cup for the mixture

half a tsp of cinnamon powder

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Make into balls and roll in coconut. Place in small foil cups

Tropical Coconut truffles - The Gluten free paleo version:

Substitute the Marie biscuits with 1 cup of LSA and 1 cup Almond meal

Tropical Coconut truffles - Dairy free Gluten free version:

Substitute the biscuits with 1 cup LSA and 1 cup almond meal and the condensed milk with condensed coconut milk

To further tart of the platter, I add stuffed dates (stuffed with a whole almond covered in store bought Marzipan and a punnet of strawberries with the store bought dip and Voila! you have a dessert platter to die for.

Didnt take photos so will add next time I make them. Sorry

Fancy pants Home Made Muesli

I went out for a breakfast meeting which served some simple but elegant food. The menu had some finger sandwiches, gluten-free bacon, spinach and egg crustless pies baked in muffin pans and a delicious crunchy muesli, served with fresh fruit, greek yogurt and a berry coulis served in small transparent containers.

I loved that muesli and reached out for a packet of toasted muesli in the supermarket which had a price tag of $20+ for a less than 500 g pack of tropical handmade muesli.

I thought it was highway robbery so decided to make my own.

That evening, I checked my recipe note book, a well thumbed, falling apart, book of yellowing hand written notes and found a recipe I had jotted down many years ago. The source is unknown but it looked pretty nice so I made a batch which we had for breakfast the next day.

Here is the recipe:

400 g wholegrain oats
about 100 g nuts (a  mix of almonds, cashews, hazelnuts - whatever that you have)
100 gms of dried fruit (I used apricot, dates, papaya and pineapple)
100 gms mixed seeds (mix of sunflower, pepitas (pumpkin), sesame and chia)
100 ml water
100 ml of coconut or flax seed oil
half a teaspoon of vanilla


Heat the oven to 180 centigrade. Line a shallow baking tray with baking paper.

Mix the dry ingredients except the fruit  in a large bowl and the oil, water and vanilla in a jug.

Combine the wet and dry ingredient and mix well.  Spread on the lined baking tray and back for 10 mts. Mix every 5 mts and bake for another 15 -20 mts until crisp and slightly golden. Mix in the dried fruit and bake for a little bit more. Cool and store in an airtight container

Serve 40-50 g with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a drizzling of berry compote/coulis or fresh berries and with some fresh or canned fruit for breakfast

Revival - long time no posts

I have neglected this blog for over an year.

I have no excuses for it other than not having a good headspace for it.

I met an old acqaintance the other day who told me of her daughter who lives a few continents away who checks my blog when she wants to cook Sri Lankan. I also met another young person who asked me if I had given up the blog.

So here I am and I will endeavour to revive and resurrect my blog.

That is a promise.