Allergen: Contains Soy

Pineapple, Prawn & Lemongrass Stir-fry With Basil

This pineapple, prawn and lemongrass stir-fry with basil is surprisingly quick and easy – a summery dinner the family will love.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • ½ stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
  • 3-4 dozen raw prawns, shelled
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons soya sauce
  • 1 ½ tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
  • 1 kaffir lime leaf, finely shredded
  • ½ a pineapple, skin cut off, chopped
  • Large handful basil leaves

Method

Make sure you thaw the prawns thoroughly and dry them on paper towel before frying.

Heat oil in a large fry pan or wok.

Add garlic, lemongrass and prawns, stir fry on high heat for 2-3 minutes until prawns are just about cooked.

Add remaining ingredients, except basil leaves, and continue to cook a further few minutes until hot through.

Turn off the heat and toss through the basil.

Serve hot with steamed rice.

Find more Delicious Dole Tropical Gold Pineapple recipes:

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • This recipe was bought to you by Dole.

Cheese rolls

Cheese rolls

Serves:

Ingredients

  • puff pastry
  • grated cheese
  • tomato paste

Method

Defrost pastry. Spread tomato paste on pastry sheet.

Add grated cheese.

Roll the pastry like a long spring roll then slice into rounds.

Cook in medium preheated oven for approx 20-25 minutes or until golden. Enjoy!

Serving Suggestions

Note

Spaceship cake

This spaceship birthday cake will impress your kids at their next birthday party. A simple cake to make, it is dressed up with fondant icing and decorated with a range of delicious sweets.

Ingredients

  • 200g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 and a half cups caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 and a half cups self raising flour
  • 1 cup milk

Icing

  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 2 cups icing sugar
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 3 drops green colouring

Decoration

  • 850g (375g for the cake board) white ready-to-roll fondant icing*
  • blue gel or paste colouring (liquid food colouring not compatible with the fondant icing)*
  • 1 jam jar lid
  • flying saucer sherbets
  • 12 Freckle lollies
  • 8 yellow jubes
  • 8 orange jubes
  • 4 green jubes
  • 1 extra jube
  • 12 yellow Skittle lollies
  • 12 orange Skittle lollies
  • 12 green Skittle lollies
  • 6 lollipops
  • 1 liquorice allsort

* from your local cake decorating shop

You will need a Dolly Varden cake tin (mine has top diameter 19cm, base diameter 5cm, height 14.5cm) and a 30cm cake board or plate for this recipe. If you dont have the cake tin, most cake decorating shops have tins for hire overnight at reasonable prices

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Liberally grease the cake tin with butter and then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of flour. Jiggle the tin around to coat evenly, then discard any remaining flour.

In an electric mixer, beat butter for 2 minutes until pale in colour and creamy. Add sugar one third at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for about a minute between each addition. Add the vanilla essence and beat until combined. Sift flour and add half to butter mixture with half the milk, beat until well combined. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Spoon mixture into tin, place on a baking tray to catch any over flow and bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, loosen edges with a knife and then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Icing

Cream butter until pale and smooth. Add the milk and half the sifted icing sugar. Beat until well combined. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. The mixture should be a spreadable paste; if it is too dry add some more milk, if too wet add more icing sugar. Add food colouring and stir until an even colour.

Decoration

If you are covering a cake board or plate, chop 375g of the white fondant icing into small pieces and knead on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar until it softens slightly. Add a small amount of blue colouring using a toothpick. Knead until the colour is even, add more colour if needed, knead again and roll out to 3mm thick. Carefully roll the icing onto a rolling pin and roll out over the cake board or plate. Use your fingers to smooth out any bumps, trim away any excess blue icing.

Trim the top of the cake so it is level; turn the cake upside down onto a flat surface. Cut the cake in half and sandwich together with half of the butter icing (you could call it Martian blood, depending on the age of your kids!). Reserve 3 tablespoons butter icing and spread the remainder in a thin layer over the top and side of the cake using a butter knife or groovy offset spatula from the cake decorating shop.

For the space ship, chop the remaining (475g) white fondant icing into small pieces and knead on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar until is softens slightly. Roll out the icing to 5mm thick. Carefully roll the icing onto the rolling pin and roll out over the cake (see Notes). Dust your fingers lightly with icing sugar and smooth the icing into place. If you have an excess fold of icing, smooth this into a wedge at 90å¡ to the cake, slice it off and carefully smooth the join (and make this the back of the cake). Trim off the excess around the base of the cake.

Place a jam jar lid on the cake board and stand the cake on the lid so it is slightly raised. Reknead and roll out icing trimmings, cut out stars and moon crescents and place on the cake board with some of the flying saucer sherbets. Stick the freckles around the base of the cake using a little of the butter icing on the back of each freckle.

Cut the jubes in half. Use the sticky side of each jube to stick on a row around the ship, four yellow, one green in a repeating pattern. Use a dab of butter icing on one side of the skittles to form a second row, two yellow, one green, two orange in a repeating pattern. For the third row, stick on four orange, one green jube in a repeating pattern.

Decorate the top of the space ship with lollipops. For the command centre, use butter icing to stick together the extra jube, liquorice allsort and a flying saucer. Then stick this to the very top of the cake.

Notes:

  • Preparation time: 25 minutes, baking time: 45-50 minutes, decorating time: 1 hour (allow longer if you have not used fondant icing before).
  • Cooking time really depends on the size of your cake tin and if it is smaller than mine (see above), cook for a shorter time, if larger, cook for longer. Also, Dolly Vartan tins are an unusual shape, so the top may look a bit over done before the centre is cooked. Dont worry about this as you will be trimming the top.
  • To make the BIG Day preparations easier, make the cake two days before the party, keep in an airtight container in the fridge (it is easier to decorate a cold cake), then decorate the night before and leave at room temperature.
  • To speed up the decorating time, use a blue (or any colour you fancy) plate rather than covering a cake board with fondant icing.

Serving Suggestions

Note

Slow cooker stuffed lamb shoulder

Slow cooker stuffed lamb shoulder

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 2kg shoulder lamb, bone removed
  • 200g sausage mince (or 3 raw sausages, de-skinned)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1 stalk of finely chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
  • 1 stalk fresh parsley, finely chopped
  • 2 stalks celery, sliced
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and thickly sliced or 1 dozen dutch carrots (whole baby carrots)
  • 1 large onion, peeled and thickly diced

Method

Unwrap lamb shoulder (if it is rolled) and cut off netting or string.

In a frypan, add some oil and brown the small onion over a moderate heat. Add sausage mince, rosemary and parsley and stir until meat is browned, set aside.

Sprinkle the mince mix on the inner part of the shoulder and re-roll, concealing the stuffing. Wrap with unwaxed kitchen twine until the stuffing is secured in the centre and not spilling out.

Place the celery, large onion and carrot in the bottom of the slow cooker and rest the lamb on top of the vegetables, Grind some salt and pepper onto the top of the lamb and give it a quick rub in with your fingers.

Cover the slowcooker and turn on high for 5 hours or low for 7 hours.

20 minutes prior to the slowcooker finish time, preheat oven to 200°C.

Transfer lamb from the slowcooker onto a roasting tray and place in the oven. This gives the outside a crispy shell. Remove after 30 minutes and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Serve with your favourite steamed or baked vegetables and drizzle leftover juices from slow cooker when serving as a gravy.

Notes:

  • Lamb shoulder is available at your local butcher and supermarkets. If you can’t see one, ask behind the counter.
  • Salt bush lamb is a yummy alternative to standard lamb. The lambs have been grazing on salt bush which gives the meat a deep flavour with a yummy salty aftertaste!
  • If you like a thicker gravy, transfer the juice/stock from the bottom of the slow cooker to a saucepan and add 1 tblsp cornflower diluted in 3 tblsp water to thicken.
  • This recipe was created by Melissa Klemke for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Serving Suggestions

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Baby carrot soup

Baby carrot soup

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 brown onions, diced
  • 500g baby carrots, scrubbed and chopped
  • 1 tbsp vegetable stock powder
  • 1 tin (400g) diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tbsp light soy sauce, or to taste
  • crusty bread, to serve

Method

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat and gently cook the onions for 3-4 minutes, or until translucent.

Add the carrots and cook for a further 4 minutes.

Add the stock powder, tomato and water and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

In a blender or using a stick blender, process the soup until smooth.

Add the soy sauce a little at a time to taste.

Serve with crusty bread.

Find related soup recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • If you’re using regular-sized carrots, you can add a pinch of sugar with the stock powder to increase the sweetness.
  • Add the soy sauce a splash at a time, stirring and tasting after each addition until just right for your taste.
  • This dish could easily be called pumpkin soup if that’s all a fussy eater in the family will eat…
  • This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Sausage and onion jam rolls

Sausage and onion jam rolls

Serves:

Makes approx 18

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 red onions, finely sliced
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, defrosted
  • 500g beef chipolatas
  • 1/2 cup good quality tomato chutney
  • 1 egg, beaten

Method

Preheat oven to 210°C (190°C fan-forced).

Place oil and onions in a saucepan with a lid, and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add sugar and vinegar and cook for a further minute until caramelised and sticky. Set aside.

Cut each pastry sheet into nine equal squares. Place a teaspoon of onion jam in the centre of a square and top with a sausage. Spoon over a little chutney then bring up two diagonally opposite corners and seal well, encasing the filling. Continue with remaining pastry.

Place sausage rolls on an oven tray lined with baking paper. Brush the pastry with beaten egg. Bake for 15-18 minutes until puffed and golden.

Find related sausage recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Serve with remaining chutney or tomato sauce.
  • You could replace the chipolatas with little frankfurts if you prefer.
  • Recipe by Greer Worsley, who blogs at Typically Red.

Continue reading “Sausage and onion jam rolls”

Veggie skeleton dip platter

Veggie skeleton dip platter

Make veggies fun and spooky this Halloween with this creepy veggie skeleton dip platter idea. It could also be a fun after school snack that may entice the kids to eat some veggies.

 

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 2 celery stalks, sliced into sticks
  • 1 large carrot, sliced into sticks
  • 5 mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 red or green capsicum, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 head of broccoli, blanched and broken into smaller florets
  • 1 cucumber, sliced into rounds
  • 2 capers
  • 1 cornichon

Method:

Step 1. Make or buy some hummus or tzatziki and put it in a small bowl (this will be the skeleton’s head).

Step 2. Prepare a large platter, big enough to create your skeleton.

Step 3. Create the skeleton’s spine first using rounds of cucumber.

Step 4. Add the slices of capsicum as ribs.

Step 5. Two large sticks of celery will be the shoulders, followed by two medium carrot sticks for each arm.åÊ A mushroom can be each hand.

Step 6. Arrange the rest of the mushroom slices to be the pelvis bone.

Step 7. Use celery and carrot sticks to create legs and feet.

Step 8. Position the bowl of dip as the head and add florets of broccoli for hair, two capers as eyes and a cornichon as the mouth.

Note

  • Thanks to our friends at Kidspot Australia for creating the instructional video.

Mince pie pops

Mince pie pops

Serves:

20

Ingredients

  • 2 sheets ready-made shortcrust pastry, defrosted
  • 1 jar (410g) fruit mince (you only need about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar

You will also need:

  • 1 small round cookie cutter (5cm diameter)
  • 1 extra small star-shaped cookie cutter
  • 20 pop sticks
  • ribbons or stickers for decoration

Method

Step 1. Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside. Place the pastry sheet on a flat surface and cut out 40 rounds. Use the star cutter to cut out the centre of 20 rounds for the tops.

Step 2. Place pop sticks into the centres of the pastry rounds. Use small pieces of leftover pastry to stick the pop sticks down. Place 1/2  tsp of fruit mince on 20 rounds. Wet the star-cut pastry rounds all over one surface and place wet side down on the fruit mince.

Step 3. Use a fork to crimp edges.

Step 4. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 12 minutes. Tie ribbons onto pop sticks and sift icing sugar onto each pie.

Mince pie pops

Find related sweet Christmas recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • You can hot glue Christmas decorations on the sticks if you prefer.
  • If you don’t have pop sticks you can make these and pop them into a tiny gift box instead.
  • This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot,New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Simple sausage rolls

Simple sausage rolls

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 1kg sausage mince
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 1 carrot finely grated
  • 4 sheets of frozen puff pastry
  • 1 egg lightly beaten with a ½ cup of milk

Method

Preheat oven to180C.

Separate 4 sheets of puff pastry to defrost and cut each sheet in half.

Mix sausage mince with diced onion and carrot.

Evenly divide the mix into 8 portions and lie along each pastry rectangle.

Roll one edge of the sausage mix and tuck the mix evenly under it with a knife.

Brush egg wash on the other edge and roll the pastry on topSlice this into 3 and lie on a baking paper lined oven tray.

Continue until all the sausage mix is rolled and placed on the trays.

Brush each roll with the egg wash and cook for approximately 25-20 mins.

Find related kids party recipes:

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • These are great for entertaining and picnics and feeding a crowd.
  • To make party sausage rolls cut the pastry sheet in 3 and slice into 6 pieces.
  • Serve with lots of tomato sauce.
  • This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.

Honey and balsamic glazed sausages

Honey and balsamic glazed sausages

Serves:

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 6 sausages
  • 1/4 cup (45g) brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 sprig rosemary

Method

Heat oil in a medium frypan. Brown sausages on all sides for 12 minutes until almost cooked.

Meanwhile, combine sugar, balsamic, honey and mustard in a small saucepan. Bring to the boil then remove from heat and set aside.

Remove sausages from pan and drain off any fat. Return sausages to pan over a medium heat and pour over glaze. Add rosemary. Simmer gently for 2 minutes, shaking pan and spooning glaze over the sausages, until they are cooked and well-coated.

Serve with mashed potato and salad with extra glaze drizzled over the top.

Find related sausage recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Use any kind of sausages but thick ones are best.
  • Be careful when you add the glaze to the frypan – it tends to sizzle and spit.
  • Recipe by Greer Worsley, who blogs atåÊTypically Red.

Potato-free Tuna Patties

These delicious tuna patties are packed full of healthy vegetables and use rice cakes to hold the mixture together making them light and crispy. Your kids will love them and have no idea how healthy they really are.

Ingredients

  • 1 large zucchini, grated
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • 1 cob of corn, corn removed
  • 1 tbsp flour (use gluten-free)
  • 1 can (200g) tuna in springwater, drained
  • 10 rice cakes, processed until crumbly
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

Heat oil in a pan and fry zucchini, carrot and corn for 5 minutes.

Transfer veggies to a bowl and add flour and tuna, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Add rice cakes and lightly beaten eggs.

Leave to cool and then shape patties using an egg ring.

Heat oil in a large fry pan over medium heat and cook patties for 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown.

Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Find more dinner recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • These are great to freeze for a quick meal when time is short.
  • You can replace the flour in this recipe with rice flour to make these gluten free.
  • This recipe was created by Karla Gilbert. You can read her blog at Ironmum Karla, catch up with her on Twitter, find her on Facebook or peek at her pins on Pinterest.

Beetroot and Chicken Burger

Beetroot and Chicken Burger

Serves:

4

Ingredients

  • 4 sesame seed burger buns
  • 2 chicken breasts, cut through the middle and flattened
  • 1 pack of LeaderBrand Pure’n Ezy beetroot, sliced  
  • 1 pack of LeaderBrand Broccoslaw
  • 1 LeaderBrand iceberg lettuce
  • 1 Tbsp of oil
  • 4 slices of cheese
  • 1 tomato sliced
  • 4 pieces of sliced gherkin
  • Mayonnaise or sauce if desired

Method

Cut the burger buns in half.

Brush chicken with oil and cook until the juices run clear and the meat is no longer pink.

Mix together LeaderBrand Broccoslaw with Lemonnaise dressing from the packet.

Stack base of burger bun with iceberg lettuce, Broccoslaw, cooked chicken, cheese, tomato, gherkin and LeaderBrand beetroot. Top with mayonnaise or sauce if desired.

Add the top of the burger bun and enjoy.

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Leftover sausage bake recipe

Leftover sausage bake recipe

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 300g short pasta
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 red capsicum, finely diced
  • 1 zucchini, thickly sliced and quartered
  • 8 leftover sausages, chopped
  • 420g jar pasta sauce
  • 400g can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup grated tasty cheese

Method

Cook pasta and drain.

Preheat oven to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan forced.

Heat olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan. Saute garlic, red capsicum and zucchini until softened.

Toss through pasta, sausages, pasta sauce and crushed tomatoes.

Pour into a casserole dish and top with grated cheese. Cook for around 30 minutes until cheese is melted and golden.

Serve with a salad.

Find related casserole recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • If you need to make this s-t-r-e-t-c-h further, stir through some drained red kidney beans before popping in the oven.
  • Add a gentle heat with the addition of a little chopped chilli.
  • This recipe was created by Alana House for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Medal Cookies

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cups butter, softened
  • 1 cup caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste or 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 2 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
  • 1 cup wholemeal flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate buttons

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Stir through the vanilla and then the self-raising flour and salt until you have a nice soft dough. Wrap this in plastic and pop in the fridge for at least an hour (or overnight or freeze for a few weeks but in this case just let defrost gently in the fridge overnight).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to about 1/2cm thickness. I find the easiest way to do this is to break the dough off and do small amounts at a time – that way you don’t end up having to handle big sheets of dough that invariably tear down the middle or stick to the bench.

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a biscuit tray with baking paper. Cut the rolled out dough into circles using a round 6cm cookie cutter or similar. Gently push a hole through near the top edge of each circle with the thick end of a chopstick and then, using the narrow end, tidy that hole up so it’s nice and neat. Place the dough circles on your prepared baking tray and bake for 10 minutes or until a light gold colour. Let cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler over simmering water. Spoon melted chocolate into a small plastic bag with a little cut in one corner or piping bag with the narrowest nozzle attachment you have, and once the biscuits are cool, pipe the numbers one two and three on the biccies. Or you could just let the kids go freestyle!

Notes

  • Try to avoid rolling out the pastry too thinly as this generally means the cookies will burn or be too fragile to decorate. About 1/2cm thickness works for me!
  • This recipe can also be made with a food processor, a fact I discovered only today after remembering that I’d lent my standing mixer bowl to a friend.
  • This recipe was created by Local is Lovely

Serving Suggestions

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Chicken baguette

Chicken baguette

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 1 cooked chicken breast, skin removed, chopped
  • 3 shallots, white and pale green parts, finely sliced
  • 1 stick celery, thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • salt and white pepper
  • 1 baguette/long bread stick (about 50cm long), or 4 bread rolls
  • small amount of butter
  • 1 cup rocket
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced on the diagonal

Method

Combine chicken, shallots, celery and mayonnaise in a bowl.

Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Split the baguette lengthwise and thinly spread the bread with butter.  (This helps prevent the bread from going soggy.)

Lay the rocket along the bottom of the roll, then top with cucumber.  

Spoon the chicken mixture into the baguette and cut into four pieces.

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • f you haven't got any shallots to hand, try adding half a finely chopped red onion instead or 1 tbsp fresh chopped chives.
  • Use a wholegrain baguette with seeds if you can for more of a nutritional punch.
  • This recipe was created by Julie Goodwin for GLAD

Sausage pot pies recipe

Sausage pot pies recipe

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 8 leftover chicken sausages
  • 125ml (1/2 cup) white wine
  • 375ml (1 1/2 cups) of chicken stock
  • 2 tbsp caramelised onions
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with a little water to make a paste
  • 2 sheets puff pastry
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • steamed veggies and mashed potato to serve

Method

Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan and gently saute the celery and carrots until softened.

Add the sausages, wine, stock and caramelised onions and thyme. Stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan forced.

Stir in the cornflour paste to thicken the mixture. Simmer another 5 minutes.

Divide mixture among 8 ceramic dishes. Cut circles of pastry, place over the dishes. Brush pastry with beaten egg.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.

Serve with steamed veggies and mashed potato.

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • If using beef sausages, substitute beef stock for chicken stock and red wine for white wine.
  • Ramekin dishes make cute mini pot pies to feed the kids. Use pastry scraps to personalise the pies with their initials.
  • This recipe was created by Alana House for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder. You can follow Alana at Housegoeshome and on Twitter.

Double choc slice

Double choc slice

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 1 block of dream or any other white chocolate
  • 1 cup self raising flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbs cocoa
  • 1 tin condensed milk
  • 125g melted butter

Method

Mix all ingredients together.

Sppon mixture in a lamington tin and press broken pieces of chocolate into mixture.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or until cooked.

Serving Suggestions

Note

Healthy glazed meatballs

Healthy glazed meatballs

Serves:

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 500g extra lean beef
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Glaze

  • 1/4 cup (60ml) soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) oyster sauce
  • 1/2 (125ml) cup orange juice
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced

Method

Heat oven to 210°C (190°C fan-forced) and line an oven tray with baking paper.

Mix meatball ingredients together and roll 1 tablespoon of mixture for each meatball.

Place on the oven tray and bake for 10 minutes.

Place glaze ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove meatballs from the oven and pour a teaspoon of glaze over each meatball.

Continue to bake for a further 10 minutes.

Remove meatballs from the oven and toss through the remaining glaze.

Serve on a salad, steamed vegetables, rice noodles, rice or a combination of any of these.

Find related meatball recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Using lean mince keeps the fat and calories down.
  • Make twice as many and send meatballs along in a lunchbox the next day.
  • This recipe was created by Jay Rogers for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder. You can follow Jay at The Moodie Foodie and on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

Thai seafood salad

Thai seafood salad

Serves:

Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 1/2 kg green prawns (peeled, deveined, tails intact)
  • 1 squid tube (cleaned, finely sliced)
  • 400 g firm fish fillets
  • 1 punnet cherry tomato
  • 1 Lebanese cucumber
  • coriander (for topping)
  • mint (for topping)
  • lime (cut into wedges, for topping)

For dressing:

  • 1 bunch coriander (washed, roughly chopped)
  • 1/2 bunch mint (roughly chopped)
  • 1 long red chilli (seeds removed, roughly chopped)
  • 4 clove garlic (crushed)
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs lime juice
  • 1 tbs fish sauce
  • 1 tbs brown sugar

Method

Make dressing by blitzing all ingredients in a food processor.

Heat a barbecue or grill plate over high heat. Toss seafood in a little oil. Cook calamari for a couple of minutes until just cooked through. Remove to a bowl. Cook prawns for 1-2 minutes each side. Add to bowl with calamari. Cook fish for 3-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness, until just cooked. Allow to cool slightly then flake carefully into chunks.

Carefully fold dressing through seafood using a large spoon.

Halve cherry tomatoes and dice cucumber. Add to seafood and fold through. Spoon salad out onto a serving plate and garnish with extra herbs, sliced chilli and lime wedges.

Related Christmas recipes:

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Choose seafood according to your taste. Mussels, scallops and even lobster would be great.
  • Choose a firm white fish, e.g. Blue-eye Trevalla.
  • Feeding a crowd? Buy extra seafood and simply double the quantities in the dressing.
  • The long red chilli makes this mildly spiced. If you like your Thai salads hot, add a couple of bird’s eye chillis instead.
  • This recipe was created by Greer Worsley for Kidspot.

Pepperoni and bocconcini pizza

Pepperoni and bocconcini pizza

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 1 pizza base
  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce
  • 15 slices (30g) pepperoni
  • 6 bocconcini balls
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C fan-forced or 220°C conventional. Spray a pizza tray with canola spray and lay the pizza base on the tray.

Spread the pizza sauce over the base. Place pepperoni slices out over the base.

Slice bocconcini and place slices in between pepperoni.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bocconcini is melted.

Remove from oven and scatter basil leaves over the top.

Serve with salad.

Related pizza recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • This pizza is quite economical and has lots of flavour with few ingredients.
  • You can use large mozzarella balls sliced if you can’t get bocconcini.
  • The fresh basil cannot be substituted in this recipe.
  • This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.

Choc chip beetles

Choc chip beetles

Serves:

 

Ingredients

  • 125 g butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
  • 1 1/2 cups (225g) self raising flour
  • 3/4 cup (190mL) milk

 

Icing:

 

  • 3 cups (480g) icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup (60mL) hot water
  • red food colouring

 

Decoration:

 

  • 1 cup (150g) Dark Chocolate Melts, melted
  • 1/2 cup (95g) White Choc Bits
  • silver cachous, for decoration

 

Method

Preheat oven to 180c/160C fan forced. Grease two 12-hole round-based shallow patty pans.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add egg and vanilla, beat until just combined. Add flour and milk, beat until smooth.

Divide mixture amoung prepared pans; bake 12-14 minutes until golden; turn out onto wire rack to cool.

To make icing: combine sugar, butter, water and a few drops of food colouring; stir until smooth. Spread icing over the rounded side of each cake.

Spoon Dark Chocolate Melts into a piping bag or freezer bag with the corner snipped; decorate cakes as pictured. Use White Choc Bits to create spots on the beetle and use silver cachous for the eyes. Allow to set before serving.

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Easy steak Diane

Easy steak Diane

Serves:

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, finely crushed
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup (125ml) pouring cream
  • 2 x 200g sirloin or scotch fillet steaks

Method

Heat oil over gentle heat in a small saucepan. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, being careful not to let it colour. Add Worcestershire sauce and cook for a further 2 minutes until garlic is soft. Add cream, bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes, until the cream has reduced and thickened. Set aside.

Heat a grill or fry pan over high heat. Season steaks well and cook for 4 minutes on each side (for medium cooked). Remove to a plate and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.

Serve steaks with roasted potatoes, steamed green vegetables and the warm Diane sauce.

Find more dinner recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Make sure your pan is very well heated before starting to cook the steak.
  • Naturally, cook for less time if you prefer rare steak, more if you prefer well done.
  • Recipe by Greer Worsley from the blog Typically Red.

Super easy chocolate cupcakes

Super easy chocolate cupcakes

Serves:

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups (225g) sifted flour
  • 1 cup (225g) raw sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup (115g) cocoa powder
  • 1 pinch instant coffee
  • 1/2 cup choc chips
  • 1 cup (250ml) milk
  • 1/2 cup apple sauce
  • 1/2 tsp vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced).

Line a 12 cup tray with patty pans and set aside.

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix using a mixer until smooth.

Fill patty pans two-thirds full and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool.

Find related cupcake recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Did you notice – no oil or butter! You can substitute oil or butter for the applesauce if you’re weary of apples and want a fat boost.
  • Omit the choc chips if you don’t have any in the pantry (they don’t last long at my place, either).
  • The cupcakes will be a little less chocolate-y, but everything still works.
  • This recipe was created by Maxabella of Maxabella loves… Follow Maxabella on Facebook or Pinterest.

Santa strawberries

Santa strawberries

Serves:

These super cute Santa strawberries are really easy to make and put a festive twist on a dessert favourite. A simple Christmas dessert the kids can make.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup thickened cream
  • ¼ cup sifted icing sugar
  • 2 punnets strawberries
  • 2 soft liquorice sticks or baking chocolate chips

Method

Step 1. Gather all ingredients together.

Step 2. Whip cream and icing sugar together until quite firm.

Step 3. Hull the strawberries and then cut the tip off each. Sit each strawberry on paper towel to soak up the juice.

Step 4. Fill a piping bag (or icing press) with a fluted nozzle with the cream mixture and pipe it onto the cut surface of the strawberry to create a head.

Step 5. Using the tip of the nozzle, join the cream and pipe a liitle “beard” for the Santa halfway down the side of the strawberry. It’s imoportant to make these join up so the cream on the head takes the weight of the cream from the beard. Place tip of strawberry on cream. Aternatively you can just pipe two puttons.

Step 6. Pipe a “pom pom” onto the top of the strawberry. Place liquorice or chocolate chips for eyes and serve.

Notes

  • Adding the icing sugar to the cream gives it a bit of structure so it pipes and supports itself firmly. Even though this mixture is firm, you may need to refrigerate these until required so the cream doesn’t collapse in the heat.
  • It’s really important to place the strawberries on the paper towel or you will have a red mess.
  • You can add half a teaspoon of vanilla to the cream mixture if you want vanilla cream.
  • This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.

Related Christmas recipes:

Serving Suggestions

Note

Pancakes with strawberry mascarpone

Pancakes with strawberry mascarpone

Serves:

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 quantity basic pancake mix
  • 250g mascarpone cheese
  • 1 punnet strawberries, hulled and quartered
  • 1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

Method

Step 1. Make your pancakes and keep them in a warm place.

Step 2. Place marscapone in a bowl and blend in half of the strawberries. Taste and add brown sugar if required.

Step 3. Spread strawberry marscapone on  each pancake and top with remining fresh berries.

Pancakes with strawberry mascarpone

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Serving Suggestions

Note

  • I used a stick mixer to combine the marscapone and strawberries but you can just mash it together with a fork for a more rustic presentation.
  • The brown sugar in this recipe is optional. Taste your mixture first and then add a touch of sugar to balance the flavours if you desire.
  • This recipe was created by Jennifer Cheung for Kidspot, New Zealand's best recipe finder.

Snowmen doughnuts

Snowmen doughnuts

Serves:

8

Ingredients

  • 8 cinnamon doughnuts
  • 1 cup (155g) icing sugar
  • 1/2 pkt (125g) chocolate chips
  • 8 orange jubes or jelly beans

Method

Step 1.  Collect your ingredients.

Step 2. Dust the doughnuts with icing sugar until they are completely covered.

Step 3.  Add two chocolate chips for eyes.

Step 4.  Arrange five chocolate chips in the shape of a mouth.

Step 5.  Add an orange jube lolly or large jelly bean for a nose.

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • You can use mini doughnuts and mini choc chips for sweet mouthfuls of yum.
  • You could also swap lollies for the snowmen's noses with triangles of dried apricot instead.
  • Recipe by Picklebums

Rice Paper Rolls

Rice Paper Rolls

Serves:

 

Ingredients

Gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, lactose-free

  • 10 sheets rice paper (gluten-free)
  • 1 cup (about 200g) cooked chicken, shredded
  • 1 carrot, peeled and grated
  • 1 cucumber, halved, seeds removed, cut into 5cm strips 1 cup shredded lettuce
  • 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves, chopped
  • ½ cup Hoisin sauce

Method

Fill a large bowl with warm water.

Dip a sheet of rice paper into the water for about 10 seconds, just until it starts to soften (if you leave it in too long it becomes very tricky to handle), then transfer the sheet to a dinner plate.

Place a few pieces of chicken, carrot, cucumber, lettuce and herbs in a pile on one end of the rice paper.

Fold the top of the rice paper over the ingredients, then fold in each side and roll up. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Serve on a large plate with Hoisin dipping sauce.
Serving Suggestions

Note

  • A great kid-friendly recipe, if you have small non-knife-wielding kids, prepare all the ingredients for them and let them roll up, roll up!
  • We two adults managed to polish off all 10 between us, so maybe double the recipe if you have a hungry horde to feed.
  • You could bulk these up with some thin rice noodles (stick) and vary the filling with prawns, cooked beef or bean sprouts.
  • Hoisin sauce is quite a strong flavour, substitute with a bought Rice Paper roll dipping sauce or sweet chilli sauce if you prefer.

Brownies in a jar

Brownies in a jar

Serves:

Makes 1

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup plain flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2/3 cup cocoa powder
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
  • 100 g walnuts (roughly chopped)

Method

Wash and thoroughly dry a 1 litre glass jar. Sift the plain flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix to combine.

Place half of the flour mixture into the bottom of the glass jar and tap lightly to settle it. Using a spoon, carefully add the cocoa powder on top of the flour – try not to mix them together. Add the remaining flour mixture, and then the brown sugar.

In the following order, layer the white sugar, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and walnuts.

Seal the lid and handwrite a gift tag with the following instructions: Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C). Grease and line an 18cm x 28cm rectangular baking tin. Place all ingredients into a large bowl and add 150g melted butter and 3 lightly beaten eggs. Mix well. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Give as a lovely homemade gift to a friend or family member!

Find related sweet Christmas recipes

Serving Suggestions

Note

  • Lightly tap the glass jar before adding the next layer in order to allow the ingredients to settle.
  • After adding the cocoa, wipe the inside of the glass jar with dry paper towel in order to remove any excess powder from the sides.
  • You can make these gifts ahead of time, as they are stored in a sealable jar.
  • If preferred, pecans can be used in place of the walnuts.
  • For a nut-free alternative, omit the walnuts and use 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chips instead.

Homemade muesli bars

Homemade muesli bars

Serves:

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (125ml) honey
  • ¼ cup caster sugar
  • 125g butter
  • 3 cups rolled oats (see note for GF)
  • 1 cup rice bubbles
  • 1 cup sultanas
  • ½ cup chopped apricots or dates or choc chips
  • ½ cup desiccated coconut
  • ¼ cup pepitas (pumpkin seed kernels), sunflower or sesame seeds

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Grease and line a slice tray (mine is 31 cm x 22cm) with baking paper.

Combine honey, sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until butter melts and sugar dissolves.

Bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly.

Remove from heat.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour over the hot syrup and stir to combine.

Spoon into prepared pan and press firmly to make sure the mixture will stick together.

I wet my fingers with a bit of cold water and press the top to get a smooth finish.

Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden.

Cool and then refrigerate until well chilled and cut into 24 slices (about 2cm x 6cm).

Notes:

  • To make these muesli bars gluten free, use 2 cups of crushed cornflakes and 2 cups of rice bubbles.
  • The mixture has a total of 1½ cups of dried fruit – use whatever combination you or your kids prefer.
  • I have to put some obvious choc-chips on the top so my son will tolerate the sultanas.
  • And let’s not mention the sunflower seeds.
  • You could use half honey, half smooth peanut butter in the ‘syrup’ or add nuts to the mixture, but as most schools are nut-free now I have omitted these from the basic mix.
  • Recipe created by Melissa Hughes for Kidspot.

Serving Suggestions

Note

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Please contact us with new ideas and suggestions on how to make this a reality for you and your family.

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