Saturday, 3 September 2011

Just Right and Cranberry Cookies

 Ok guys these are my Just Right and Cranberry Cookies I made today for the family to chomp on.  Hard to keep enough for photo's in this house with all of the kids and Sarah wanting to eat them all.  Hope you enjoy!!!


Preparation Time

15 minutes

Cooking Time

25 minutes

Makes

Approx 40

Ingredients

  • 225g (1 1/2 cups) Just Right Cereal or any kind of Muesli based Cereal
  • 150g (1 cup) plain flour
  • 85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
  • 75g (1/2 cup) Cranberries or Craisins
  • 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
  • 55g (1/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger or allspice
  • 125g butter, chopped
  • 60ml (1/4 cup) golden syrup
  • 1 tbs water
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Combine the Cereal, flour, coconut, cranberries, caster and brown sugar, and spice in a large bowl.
  3. Combine the butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, until butter melts and mixture is well combined. Remove from heat. Add bicarbonate of soda and stir until just combined. Add to dry mixture and stir until combined.
  4. Use your hands to roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on prepared trays, allowing room for spreading. Use your fingers to flatten slightly. Bake in preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Thursday, 1 September 2011

All about me

Hi everyone, I'm James.  The reason i am putting together this blog is because i love food, I've always loved food savory or sweet, hot or cold, all the flavours of the rainbow.  I am a Flavour Addict.  My mum started me on my cooking journey when i was 6 years old, making basic cakes and helping with dinner.  From there i have always cooked for myself, family and friends.  I also worked as a bakers offsider for a couple of years which got me interested in breads and pastries.  At the age of 15 i made my first ever batch of Croissants.  They were gorgeous and buttery and everyone wanted me to make more, but the time it took doing all of that rolling and folding and adding more and more butter blaaaahhhh not a chance lol.  Back then i didn't have any fancy machines to help with those tasks but now its different ha ha ha. 

I have been married to my beautiful wife Sarah for 13 years now and have 5 amazing children to keep us on our toes.  We have Josh our eldest at 13, Nicola is 11, Matthew 9, Samuel 6 and Jessica 3. You can imagine how many meals we have had to prepare over the years having a tribe of kids with hungry bellies and different tastes to satisfy, not easy especially on a tight budget.  Things have always been tight in our house when it comes to money due to myself suffering from depression and anxiety from things that happened in my childhood, and having been diagnosed with chronic fatigue a few years ago.  I would work my fingers to the bone for months and months then come crashing down with flu like symptoms.  Ive been off work now for the past 3 years trying to get my health back into order and  at the start of this year i was starting to feel better.  I started doing my Certificate 3 in aged care and was loving it, then bam i had a motorcycle accident putting me into hospital for a few weeks. 

Some idiot was talking on his mobile phone and looked up to see a pedestrian walking across the road, so he jammed on his brakes and whack i took out his left hand corner of his 4WD with my right leg.  I ended up with a dislocated hip, fractured hip socket and 20 stitches across my right knee and down my shin.  Needless to say my days of lifting heavy object, walking long distances and standing in one place for extended amounts of time are over.  So..................while i am slowly but surely again getting my health and well being back on track here i am.  Blogging and sharing my thoughts, recipe's of ours and of others, tips and techniques of different kinds and even a bit of laughter to help you through the day. 

As i mentioned we do live on a strict budget so i will be sharing some quick and inexpensive recipe's with you that are still packed with flavour and look terrific as well as some not so quick but still very affordable ones for when you want a treat or are entertaining.  I also have lots of little tips and tricks ill share about keeping the grocery bills down while still being able to eat like kings and queens.   I also have type 2 Diabetes so we have been learning to cook different meals to keep the sugars down as well as some gluten free and wheat free meals for Sarah, so expect some of these recipe's too.  Finally, I'd just like to say, i hope everyone enjoys my page and the things i post and i look forward to reading some of yours too.  Cheers and happy eating!!!