Archive for the ‘Food and Drink’ Category

Going Gaga Over – Zoku

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Make fresh, healthy and delicious ice pops on demand! Zoku freezes your ice pop in 7-8 minutes ready for summer fun with fruit, juices and milkshakes. Zoku have a blog with inspirational recipes to try from kid friendly ones to my favourite berry mojito for mummy’s after a long hot day.

SALE ALERT!! Everten online

Recipe for above cranberry orange pops below – sourced from Zoku blog

Makes 6 Pops

INGREDIENTS

9 ounces orange juice; divided use

For the cranberry sauce:
6 ounces fresh cranberries (about 1 1/3 cup)
4 ounces orange juice (½ cup)
½ cup granulated sugar
zest of one orange

MAKE THE CRANBERRY-ORANGE BASE

  1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in ½ cup orange juice. Stir in the fresh cranberries and cook until the cranberries begin to pop (about 8 minutes). Remove from heat and place sauce in a bowl. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours.
  2. Remove Cranberry-Orange Sauce from the refrigerator and place into a blender. Add in 6 ounces of orange juice and blend until smooth (mixture will be slightly thick).

ASSEMBLE THE POPS

  1. Remove Zoku Quick Pop Maker from the freezer. Insert sticks and pour about ¾ ounce of cranberry-orange base into each cavity; allow layer to freeze completely.
  2. Pour ½ ounce orange juice into each cavity directly on top of the cranberry-orange layer; allow layer to freeze completely.
  3. Pour another layer of the cranberry-orange base up  fill line in each cavity (approximately ¾ ounce per pop); allow layer to freeze completely.
  4. Remove the pops with the Super Tool. Repeat with remaining pops.

Table Manners

Monday, August 9th, 2010

Clockwise from top left:
Smiling planet BPA free recycled plate from State Of Green.
Ecococoon cup set from Ecococoon
Puzzle dinner tray from Milk & Sugar
Kirikou dinner plate from Rouge Store
Gense animald friends cutlery from Little Living
Jetti Spaghetti double dippers from Millie Molly Moo
Tupperware fuel pack cool lagoon from Tupperware

Little Eats – Cafe Review

Sunday, July 11th, 2010

Sasa’s Cafe & Fine Food – Hawthorn
Reveiw by Jemma from Little Eats

Name: Sasa’s Cafe & Fine Food
Address: 173 Riversdale Rd, Hawthorn
Phone: 9815 3885
Opening Hours: 7 Days

A casual and relaxed cafe catering to local families with all the kid-friendly ticks. The yummy kid’s menu, generous babycino’s, crayons, chalk and mini blackboards will please the little ones, and it’s BYO too, which I am sure will please the parents.

For a more about Jemma’s time at Sasa’s visit Little Eats here

Going Gaga Over – Little Eats

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

Mini Gaga welcomes Little Eats

Melbourne mothers can rest assured that their outings with their little peeps for a bite to eat can be fun for everyone. Jemma, as self confessed foodie, hits the uber cafe scene in Melbourne to discover and review cafes and their ability to cater for kid friendly dinning. With Jemma’s two girls, toddler India and her newborn Aurora and often her hubby who is in the hospitality business in tow as her in house critiques, Jemma susses out their facilities, children’s menu, table/customer service and of course is obligated to road test the menu.

Jemma conducts regular interview with Melbourne mumma’s from celebrity chef Karen Martini to child photographer Pru Trundle from Little Bird Photography and has monthly giveaways, this month it’s a Little Veggie Patch.

Keep an out eye out for cafe reviews and interviews as Jemma will be sharing them with Mini Gaga.

Going Gaga Over – Tartelette

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Raspberry Macaron Bouquet Recipe

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WARNING: the following links can be addictive, click at own risk.

By now you would have noticed the dessert table trend of cake pops and french macarons. My new favorite daily must read blog, is that of a brilliant pastry chef, food photographer and food stylist, US based Tartelette has combined these two hot trend items in to one very stylish and delicious addition to a dessert table, Raspberry Macaron bouquets. Tartelette's other macaron recipes here

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Raspberry Mascarpone Macarons:

For the shells: 

90 g egg whites (use eggs whites that have been preferably left 3-5 days in the fridge)

25 g granulated sugar

200 g powdered sugar

110 g almonds (slivered, blanched, sliced, or meal)

1 tablespoon cherry pink powdered food coloring

Prepare the macarons:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream). Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry. Place the powdered sugar and almonds and powdered color in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add them to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets. Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 280F. When ready, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool. Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.

For the filling:

4 oz mascarpone, room temperature

2-3 tablespoon good quality raspberry preserves

In a small bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and preserves together until well incorporated. Fill a small piping bag with a large plain tip (Ateco #809) with it and pipe in the center of each shell. Let the shell mature at least 24 hours in the fridge so all the flavors have the chance to meld together.

A very special to thank you to Helen for allowing Mini Gaga to feature her brilliant jaw dropping work. Please do leave a comment to show your appreciation to Helen.

Please note that these images are the copyright of Helen M from Tartelette and can not used with permission. Her portfolio can be viewed here

Tartelette