A Little Bit of Christmas Love Giveaway

Soooooo.....

If you are following me on Facebook or Instagram then you will already be aware I am VERY excited for Christmas!

I just LOVE the anticipation, the build up as my kids (including the Big Man Kid) try to guess what they are getting, while they count down the days. Watching the excitement build as shops fill with decorations, Santa arrives at shopping centres, telling Santa what we want.....

And then Christmas morning....the closeness, the casual comfortable air of happiness and excitement as wrapping paper piles up....

Yeah, I LOVE it!

And so I want to share my love of Christmas by giving a lucky reader, or 2, the chance to get a present from me!

I LOVE the Bikini Cookbooks. They are the books I use to menu plan each week. Each meal is around 300 calories per serve, making it perfect for losing weight or just some serious healthy eating. 

Michelle often shares sample recipes on her Facebook Page, so its worth heading over and having a look there too!

So, to share my love of these books, I have not 1 but 2 to give away! 

The Snack book has to be one of my favourite to date, with loads of snack ideas, both savoury and sweet. There are lots of finger food ideas for parties or kids afternoon snacks. And so, with Michelles approval, I am giving 2 of these books away!

So all you have to do is....

1. Follow or subscribe my blog if you don't already. I am hoping to boost my numbers in the new year. 

It has been pretty quiet this year, but I am hoping to have weekly posts on things like kids activities, weight loss motivation, PND, dealing with depression & anxiety, and my general observations of motherhood. Hopefully a few laughs as well as a few tears along the way. Also, more giveaways!

2. Like my facebook page. This is my main source of communication, where I do actually post daily! 

3. Share my competition with your friends.

Thats it. Simple.

COMPETITION RUNS FROM 2.30PM 20/11/2014 - 8PM 30/11/2014.

ONE ENTRY PER PERSON ONLY.

 (Please note. This is NOT a paid giveaway. I bought these books and asked permission from Michelle to give them away. Nor is this competition connected to Facebook in any way)

UPDATE: You can now also enter via Instagram. Go to my Muddled Mum instagram account, share the post & tag me in the share to go in the draw. 

Nutella Scrolls

Ok, so not Slow Cooker made, but they can be. If you want to give it a go, I see plenty of people cooking scrolls in their slow cookers, so go for it! But this recipe will be for the oven. Why? I cook scrolls regularly, and this is how I know they turn out WELL! 

These are fantastic for lunch boxes, heated up with a cup of tea for afternoon tea, and yes, you can freeze them! 

So here it is.....

Nutella Scrolls

2 1/4 cups Self Raising Flour

1 Tbs Caster Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

60g Chilled Butter finely chopped

2/3 cup Milk 

1 Egg

1 cup Nutella warmed (more if you want!!)

Preheat your oven to 200 or 180 for fan forced & line a slice/lamington/biscuit style tray with Baking Paper. 

Sift flour into a large bowl and mix in caster sugar. Add chilled butter and rub together with your hands until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the middle of mix.

In a separate bowl combine milk, egg and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients.

Mix until it forms a sticky batter. Roll batter out onto floured board and kneed for a few minutes. Roll into a rectangle approx 30x40cm, 1-2cm thick.

Warm Nutella in the microwave for about 30 seconds and spread evenly over the top of the dough. Roll tightly along long edge. Use milk to seal the outer edge if needed, and using a serrated knife, cut roll into 12 equal slices.

Place slices, on their side on the tray, brush lightly with milk, and bake in the oven for 20-25 mins. 

Do not over cook these or they will be dry. Just until the are lightly browned is plenty.

I highly recommend eating them warm out of the oven with a cup of tea!!!!

Slow Cooked Roast Beef with Mushroom and Red Wine Gravy

I had this lovely Beef Topside Roast, and had no idea what to do with it.

I have never really been a roast cooker. I always found it intimidating, and my Mum was such great cook and roast was her specialty. So I avoided them. I let Muddled Hubby cook them from time to time, and he is a great cook too, but not me.

I decided to tackle this head on. Take my Slow Cooker Challenge to the next level and do a Slow Cooked Roast.

I started exploring for a recipe I knew the family would like. I searched my favourite Facebook pages, my favourite websites, then more widely, google. Nothing. Nothing jumped out at me and said "THIS is your recipe". So I decided since I was tackling a roast, I may as well tackle the idea of creating my own recipe!

I know, from past casseroles and meals that red wine and mushrooms make a good base, so, without further rambling on my part, here is my VERY FIRST own recipe creation!!

Slow Cooked Roast Beef with Mushroom and Red Wine

Topside Roast around 1.2kg 

1 cup beef stock (I made my stock stronger than normal, using 1 1/2 times the amount of stock powder for a stronger flavour)

1/4-1/2 cup Red Wine. (I used 1/2 cup and found it a little too much, but its a personal thing!)

1 tin crushed tomatoes

1 brown onion sliced into rings

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp coriander

2-3 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp basil

1 tsp paprika

2/3 cup mushrooms

Sauce 

1/2 the juices in the slow cooker

4 heaped tsp of beef gravy powder

2 tbs corn flour

Line base of slow cooker with onion rings and place roast on top.

Coat with spices. You could add more or less, depending on how strong you like your flavours to be.

Add crushed tomatoes, red wine and the beef stock.

Cook on high for 3 hours. Turn meat over and cook for a further 2 hours on high. 

Remove approx 1/2 the liquid in the cooker. The liquid will increase during cooking time due to the moisture in the slow cooker. Once liquid is removed, add mushrooms and cook for a further hour.

Remove meat and allow to rest while making gravy

Using remaining juices in the slow cooker, add gravy powder and corn flour and whisk until thick and creamy. Add more corn flour if needed.

Serve with oven roasted vegetables.

Hopefully your family enjoys as much as mine did! 

Slow Cook Sweet and Sour Pork

So, after a crazy hectic week of accidents, miserable toddlers and organising and running the worst garage sale in history (thanks ever so much RAIN!) it was finally time to pull out the slow cooker again. 

A spur of the moment decision saw me throwing pork into the microwave to defrost while i searched for a good recipe the whole family would enjoy. I don't like cooking frozen meat in the slow cooker, although I have been assured it is fine to do, I feel more comfortable, and find its a much better flavour if I brown meat first.

Jumping onto my favourite Facebook group Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families, I searched the Pork section and stopped as soon as i saw Sweet and Sour Pork. This is one of Muddled Hubby's favourites. Could I slow cook it? Could I cook it from scratch, having never tried before? Only one way to find out! 

On checking the recipe I was short on the amount of meat, and didn't have the vegetables recommended, but that didn't stop me! I used mushrooms to fill out the meat portion of the meal, and just what vegetables I had in the fridge. Having never attempted this before from scratch, I stuck to the basic sauce recipe.

So, without further ado, here it is!

Sweet and Sour Pork

500 grams pork (I used diced heart smart pork)

10-12 mushrooms

2 carrots

1 zucchini

1 tin corn

1 tin unsweetened pineapple pieces, or crushed pineapple, with the juice.

3 tbs brown sugar

1 tsp crushed ginger

1 tsp crushed garlic

1/4 cup white vinegar

3 tbs Soy Sauce

200 grams raw cashews

1 tbs corn flour

2-3 tsp herbs for flavour (I used garlic and herb salt & mixed herbs)

Turn slow cooker on high to preheat.

In a bag mix corn flour and dry herbs and coat pork pieces. Use a small amount of oil (olive oil for us, but you could also use Sesame Oil) to brown meat lightly. 

Put meat and veg in pan, add vegetables and then corn, pineapple, sugar, ginger, garlic, vinegar and soy sauce and stir to combine. 

Cook on high for 1-2 hours, and then on low for a further 4-5 hours. I put cashews in in the last hour of cooking and left the lid off to reduce liquid and let sauce thicken a little.

Serve with rice.

Easy and delicious!! 

If you have Facebook, head over and like my Page.

Also, if you love a good slow cooker meal, check out the Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families group. So many good recipes in there worth trying!! 

Please note: no one is paying or asking me to promote this group or any of the recipes. These are just my own experiences of what I have found to be a valuable resource for our family, that I thought I would share. Over coming weeks you will also get to see recipes from Taste.com and the Bikini Cookbook range that I tweak to suit our family.

Sweet Lamb Curry Casserole

So here is my first recipe. This started as a recipe from a Facebook page Slow Cooker Recipes 4 Families, but turned into my own. I didn't have some of the ingredients, so I improvised, and then added a few of my own flavours to make it a richer, tastier casserole. 

The family all went back for seconds (and maybe thirds) so I think it was pretty tasty! Even Mini Miss Fussy Britches (yes, occasionally I like to use old fashioned words!) ate some! And there is plenty left over for freezing, turning into pie (a favourite use of left over casseroles for me!) or even having again for dinner tomorrow night so its one less thing to think about tomorrow! 

Sweet Lamb Curry Casserole

• 500-750 grams Lamb diced
• 4 potatoes
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 2 zucchini
• 1 cup broccoli
• 8-10 mushrooms
• 1 brown onion diced
• 1 tin corn kernels 
• 1 tin tomatoes (I used Italian flavoured tomatoes)
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• decent splash of lemon juice
• 1-1.5 tsp curry powder (to your own taste)
• 2 tsp garlic (I use minced, but you could also use 2 cloves of fresh garlic)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Oregano
• garlic and herb salt
• 1/2 - 1 cup of Beef Stock (I use Vegata as it is gluten free)
• salt and pepper to taste
• extra virgin olive oil 

1. Turn slow cooker onto high to heat. Put potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, mushrooms and corn in slow cooker bowl while it heats up.
2. Brown lamb in a little olive oil and coat with curry and garlic and herb salt while cooking. Put into slow cooker.
3. Add a little more olive oil, add onions and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until onions turn translucent. Put into slow cooker.
4. Sprinkle turmeric, cumin and oregano into slow cooker. Add honey and lemon juice.
5. Add tomatoes and mix thoroughly.
6. Add enough stock to cover and cook on high for 4 hours, then for a further 2-4 hours on low, stirring occasionally.
7. Take off lid in last hour and add 1 Tbs of corn flour if needed to thicken sauce.
8. Serve with rice, or just with warm crusty bread!

My Slow Cooker Challenge

So, those that know me well know I was never keen on cooking. 

In fact, once upon a time I CHOSE, yep I CHOSE to do the washing up over cooking dinner every night. 

How times change......

Apparently becoming a Mum, a wife and now being the stay at home person, was enough to inspire me. Now I LOVE LOVE LOVE cooking! I love cooking dinners, breakfasts, I love baking and cooking sweets...I love my kitchen!

I am completely self taught. My Mum used to love cooking. It was her major passion, but her kitchen was HER kitchen! I rarely got to get in there and so I never really learnt the ins and outs of how to cook. Now I have my own passion for cooking, I kind of understand where she was coming from....maybe I get my need to control freak obsessive compulsiveness from her!

But, it turns out, I am not too bad at it, if I do say so myself! I rarely follow a recipe too closely, I usually tweak it depending on my personal tastes, what I have in the cupboard, or what I think I will just taste better! So far I think I may have had 1 or 2 failures, but thats it. The rest have turned out just fine and tasty!

So, to the slow cooker challenge. 

I have had my slow cooker for a couple of years now, but I have never really experimented with it. I tend to stick to 6 or so recipes I know work well and taste good. Family favourites. 

Well NO MORE!!!

Time to branch out and with the help of a Facebook page, Taste, and several other internet sources, I am embarking on a new journey, a new tastes journey!

Also, I'm looking for recipes with left overs, to freeze so I don't have to cook when Mr Squishy arrives! As any new mum knows, being prepared when a little one comes in and turns your lives upside down is VERY important. Given the fact we know I will be having a c-section, and that there is a longer recovery time, preparation is essential.

Until yesterday, I had never used my slow cooker for desserts. Then I may a To Die For Gooey Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding! Now, I know I will continue to use it for more desserts! 

I'm branching out! Experimenting. Having fun.

So each week, thanks to several friends and fans asking, I will bring you my favourite recipes, the ones that turn out tasty! Maybe, for a laugh, I'll also share the ones that crash and burn! 

This will be handy (I hope) and just in time for winter, when casseroles, soups and roasts are sooooo good! Loads of Winter Warmers, that are family friendly and most importantly, QUICK AND EASY!!