A variety of Puffs

I can't believe I forgot to post this. I had this written yesterday, but I came home from uni and pretty much fell asleep. I've been feeling ridiculously lazy lately - I haven't done any uni work, I've slept about 9 - 10 hours each night and I've eaten an insane amount of food. I blame winter. Sorry it's been such a long time since I posted - still adapting to the consistency thing!

I have made three puffs for you today:
Salmon, Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese Puffs
Salmon, Potato and Goats Cheese Puffs
Avocado Puffs (adapted from the amazing Averie Cooks)

These puffs are perfect for Mother's Day. They're cute, small, delicious and warm. I don't actually think my own mother would eat any of these, except for maybe the avocado ones, but I hope she would at least try them. If your mother does like food like this - then it's perfect.

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Average Cost: $

Occasion: Morning tea, afternoon tea, snack, Mother’s Day

Menu Options: This recipe is brilliantly simple. You can add other flavours if you want – maybe some lemon and rosemary to the salmon puffs. You can change the cheese for stronger or weaker cheese. You can use salsa in the avocado puffs instead of tomato chutney – it is all entirely up to you. These are just basic ideas.

Salmon, Sweet Potato and Goats Cheese Puffs

Makes 12 pastries

You will need:

1 large sweet potato

1-2 cooked salmon fillets, depending on size (I needed 2, but my fillets were very small)

2 tbsp goats cheese

2 sheets puff pastry

1 egg, in a small bowl, beaten

What to do:

A note about the salmon fillets – they should be already cooked. This is a great way to use up leftovers. You can also buy frozen salmon fillets which just need a few minutes in the microwave to be cooked properly. I know this sounds awful, but, at least in Australian anyway, I have found a great packaged salmon which I defrost in the microwave and it tastes fine. This is because I am a uni student and can’t afford real salmon fillets. This is also why my salmon fillets were small. If you are cooking your own, I recommend cooking with a little oil and lemon juice and rosemary.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Boil the sweet potato. This usually takes me about 15 minutes. To make this process quicker, cut the potato up into small bits. Make sure the potato is very soft.

While boiling the potato, defrost the puff pastry.

Mash the boiled sweet potato, and combine with goats cheese and salmon fillet. This means shredding the salmon fillet which can be done with a fork or your hands.

Cut each sheet of puff pastry into twelve equal squares. As one square will be the bottom of the puff and another square will be the top, this means each sheet makes 6 pastries.

Place a dollop of the salmon mixture onto six squares on each sheet.

Cover the salmon filled sheets with a corresponding pastry lid. Using your fingers, press the corners of the two sheets of pastry together so the mixture is firmly enclosed in the pastry case. Using a fork, stab the edges of the pastry. The end result is that each individual pastry will have a border of dots from the fork. The border should go around all four sides of the pastry. This lets the air escape from the pastry and ensures the mixture will not spill out.

Brush the lids of the pastry with the beaten egg.

Bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the pastry, as you want them to be a lovely, crispy golden brown.

Salmon, Potato and Goats Cheese Puffs

Makes 12 pastries

You will need:

3 small washed potatoes (alternate this depending on size of potatoes)

1-2 salmon fillets, depending on size

2 tbsp goats cheese

2 sheets puff pastry

1 egg

What to do:

Follow the same process for these puffs as I said above, just using regular potatoes instead of sweet potato.

Avocado Puffs

Makes 6 pastries

You will need:

NOTE: Do not bother measuring this out, as you will merely be using a tablespoon of the mixture on each pastry; this is just an estimate of how much you will need.

1/2 avocado

1/3 cup cream cheese

1/3 cup tomato chutney

1 sheet puff pastry

1 egg

What to do:

Defrost the puff pastry. Once defrosted, using a rolling pin, roll out the pastry until it is stretched thin. Cut the pastry into 12 equal squares.

Mash the avocado in a small bowl.

On six of the squares, place the following, in the order listed below:

1 tablespoon of mashed avocado

1 teaspoon of cream cheese

1 teaspoon of tomato chutney

Cover the filled pastry squares with a corresponding pastry lid. Using your fingers, press the corners of the two sheets of pastry together so the mixture is firmly enclosed in the pastry case. Using a fork, stab the edges of the pastry. The end result is that each individual pastry will have a border of dots from the fork. The border should go around all four sides of the pastry. This lets the air escape from the pastry and ensures the mixture will not spill out.

Brush the lids of the pastry with the beaten egg.

Bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the pastry, as you want them to be a lovely, crispy golden brown.

NOTE: I made all of these on the same day, so I used two eggs – as you are only using the eggs to brush over the pastry you don’t actually use the whole egg so one egg can brush quite a few pastries.

Healthy Banana Bread - Sugarless, Whole Wheat, Low-Cal

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted. I actually can't use the excuse of being busy; I haven't been at all. I've just been tired. But I'm back with a bang - a recipe I developed, guaranteed to not break your diet, and perfect for those who love wholesome, healthy foods. The epitome of this blog.

I was supposed to give blood yesterday, but because last time I did I fainted (several hours after donating), they won't allow me to donate for another three years. Which is fine, but I wish they'd told me before I drank 1.5 L of liquid that morning - including an insane amount of juice! I never drink juice, but I figured with the whole donating blood thing, the sugar wouldn't bother me. Well, the sugar did bother me. I pretty much spent the whole day feeling guilty about drinking calories. Which made me eat an insane amount of chocolate banana bread I made. Which tasted excellent, but made me feel worse. And the cycle continued. I'm sure you've been there.

However, I am going to look at the positives of this week. I saw The Avengers. That is probably the only positive it what turned out to be a rather average and slightly annoying and lonely week. But wow, it was a positive. I recommend you go see this movie now. Tomorrow. Hell, even tonight. It is brilliant. I am a bit of a dork (I was planning on posting a few days ago and making a 'May the Fourth be with you' joke, I love Harry Potter, and I have an insane amount of respect and admiration for Steven Moffat), and it is a super hero movie. But ignore this fact if you don't like super hero movies, and go because, well, everyone is good looking. And there are some brilliant one liners. And everyone is good looking. And there is some great action scenes. And everyone is good looking. 

I obviously have my priorities straight.

So this bread I baked as a healthy treat is one I have been experimenting with for a while. It is one of the first recipes I have completely made up by myself, not just fooled around with. Literally I walked into my kitchen and pulled out what people usually use in a banana bread and attempted to make it healthier. And boy did it work. I made it healthy. There is no sugar. Whole wheat flour is used. The honey is minimal. The banana's do all the work in this bread. It tastes brilliant, and is so incredibly low in calories.

Seriously guys, this bread is the best thing I've made. Maybe not ever - but the best thing I have ever invented in the kitchen thus far. Sure, it isn't pretty, and, due to the honey, has a tendancy to burn. But it tastes fantastic, at at 111 calories a slice, is just the perfect afternoon treat.

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Average Cost: $

Main Ingredients: banana, honey

Occasion: Breakfast, Lunch, Snack

Menu Options: This recipe is brilliantly simple. You don’t have to add the coconut to decorate if you don’t like it. You could add chocolate chips, raisins, coconut, any type of nuts or dried fruit to the batter if you wish. You could decorate it with chocolate or nutella. Of course, this will affect the calorie count, and adding chocolate probably detracts from the healthiness of this bread, but I promise I won’t judge you. My last loaf may or may not have contained copious amounts of dark chocolate.

Makes 15 slices.

What you need:

2 cups whole-wheat self-raising flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

3 bananas

¼ cup honey

2 eggs

¼ cup yoghurt - I used low fat greek yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla

Coconut to decorate (optional)

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Liberally grease a regular 9 x 5 loaf pan. I use coconut oil, as I find it works brilliantly to grease tins.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a separate, also large bowl, mash the three bananas. You want three very ripe bananas – mine are pretty much brown all over when I make this. The flavour is amazing. Add the honey, eggs, yoghurt and vanilla. Using a stand mixer, or handheld, mix the wet ingredients together until well combined. This will take a minute or two – you want the mixture to be a light yellow, and the banana evenly distributed throughout.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly, continuing to mix on a low speed until just combined. You do not want to overmix this stage. Here is where you could add any further ingredients, like chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with coconut, if using. If you want to prevent the bread from browning, bake for 10 minutes, then cover the pan loosely with foil and continue to bake for another 20 – 30 minutes, checking frequently to ensure the bread is not burnt or done.

Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Keep a close eyes on the bread as it browns very quickly, but the inside will not be done. To make sure the bread is done, insert a skewer into the centre of the bread. It will come out dry.

Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely before slicing. Of course, you can slice it when it is warm, but it will get a little messy. But I admit, I love it warm with butter and honey.  

WIAW - going to America!

 * This will be a long post, but I promise it's a good one - news, WIAW and a quiz.

So for my good news - I'm going to America!

I will be going at the end of December/beginning of January to New York, Boston/MA (visiting the whole state) and DC. So please tell me where to go, tourist and non-tourist stuff to do (preferably the awesome stuff you do if you live there), what to eat and where to eat! I intend to try all the best American food - pizza in NY, clam chowder in MA, and I am definitely going to Trader Joes - which looks so freakin' amazing and we have nothing like that over here. So please, let me know!

I am so excited about this trip - I've never been to America and have always wanted to go. So if you live in those areas let me know!

I am going there to meet up with my lovely friend Meg, who I actually met on a writing website where we posted stories we had written. It was a great way to meet other people - like blogging! She wrote an amazing story, I said I liked it, and we became friends - and this will be my first time meeting her in the flesh. This was exciting for me - I never comment on things online unless I think they deserve to be commented on. So if I have been stalking your blog, I apologize, I'm not really a creeper. I just think you're awesome. Truly.

Now. WIAW:

As usual, a huge thank you to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for being such an awesome host. Have a look at everyone else's blog posts and of course, Jenn's.

It was such a rainy weekend I spent the whole weekend inside, baking mostly.

Breakfast – 1 cup oatmeal, 3 strawberries, 1 banana, cinnamon, honey, 'light n tasty' cereal. 

Lunch – leftover pizza (both recipes coming soon) – one slice chicken and mushroom, one slice margherita, one weight watchers apricots tin and a fudge ball (recipe from Choc Covered Katie - oh my god, these are amazing)

Dinner – one steak and mushroom pie, baked pumpkin and sweet potato

Dessert – popcorn with a little salt

Unpictured: a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt,  and I snacked on grapes, and sweet potato and pumpkin mix

I also baked for my roommates: banana and choc chip mini loaves from Skinnytaste and hot cocoa cookies from How Sweet It Is – using Marshmellow Fluff sent from Meg for Christmas!

Now for the quiz. I saw this on the ever lovely Shannon's blog and really wanted to do it, and couldn't wait to post it. So sorry for this insane post!

Now, I suppose you guys don’t really know a lot about me, but I read all these other blogs and I’m like, ‘Man, they seem like such a cool person’. And I think well, maybe if I actually talked about my life I might make some awesome foodie blogger friends. What a better way to start than on WIAW – a party for healthy bloggers anyway. So, I did a quiz:

Coke or Pepsi?

I don’t drink either on a daily basis, but Coke. Diet Coke specifically – that was all we had in the house when I was younger so I don’t even like normal Coke.

Lemonade or Fruit Punch?

Ugh, neither. I am not a fan of any lemonade or lemon-y thing really, and fruit punch has some form of soda in it, which I don’t drink. Not for any health reasons, purely because I’m picky and don’t like the taste.

Caramel Apple or Cotton Candy?

Again, neither. Both are too sweet for me. But I suppose if I was at a fair and had to chose, I would get cotton candy, eat a tiny bit, and pass it on to whatever friend I was with.

Butterfinger or Snickers?

I’m being boring again, but neither. Actually, what are Butterfingers? I don’t know. But I don’t really like Snickers.

Pudding and Jell-O?

Pudding all the way. Wasn’t a fan until uni, then I fell in love with this low fat version Weight Watchers has in a small tin – my problem is I eat like four of those tins.

Turkey or Chicken?

Cannot chose. I love them equally. A good turkey sandwich with cranberry sauce, proper lettuce, tomato and cheese is fantastic, but I would die without my Mum’s chicken burgers – and chicken is like every meal for me.

American or Provolone Cheese?

Provolone. Not that I dislike American cheese, hell I love it, but I would say I like Provolone more.

Crackers or Cookies?

Probably crackers, because I eat them with cheese and tomato if I’m craving a bit of decent meal. I don’t really eat or make cookies.

Pretzels or Chips?

Pretzels – I only ever like Original Smiths Chips and Light n’ Tangy Smiths Chips anyway.

Mexican food or Japanese food?

Probably Japanese – I eat more sushi than Mexican food.

Chinese food or Italian food?

Being Italian, I like Italian food. This was called regular food for such a long time for me.

Pie or Cake?

Oh, that’s so hard. I love pie most, I think. The cake has got to be a specific cake to be better than pie – like chocolate or banana. And the pie has usually got to be warm and homemade; I don’t really do bakery meat pies. I would do bakery fruit pies though.

Ice cream or Cookies?

Cookies. I don’t eat cookies, but I eat ice cream less. I really don’t like it – just not my thing.

Pasta or Pizza?

Pasta – I mean, I love my grandparents homemade pizza, but pasta is like a twice weekly thing for me. Growing up, Tuesday and Thursday every week was pasta nights.

Soda or Juice?

Freshly squeezed juice, otherwise I only really drink Pineapple juice.

Chocolate Bars or Chocolate Truffles?

I don’t really eat chocolate bars – I prefer chocolate in things. So probably truffles, but I would never be able to restrict myself to one. And it would have to be dark chocolate – I can do some milk chocolate, especially if it’s with caramel, but never white chocolate.

Apples or Bananas?

I’m going to have to go with bananas here.

Salad or Soup?

Salad I suppose, I try to eat it once a day.

Cauliflower or Broccoli?

Ooooh neither. I’m still learning to eat my veggies. When I was kid, I ate every fruit there was. My parents called me ‘The Fruit Bat’. At the same time, I also told my friend’s parents when I slept over at my friend’s house that I was allergic to green vegetables because I didn’t eat them.

Onion Rings or French Fries?

French fries all the way. I don’t do onion – not a lot of it.

Blizzard or McFlurry?

What is a Blizzard? But not a McFlurry, as I have actually never eaten McDonals. I know, shock, right.

Fried or Poached Eggs?

Poached all the way.

Crepes or Pancakes?

Uh, such a hard decision! Both!

Hash browns or Roasted Potatoes?

Roasted potatoes. I used to love hash browns, but now, I can’t go past good old fashioned roast vegetables!

Oatmeal or Cereal?

I absolutely love both. Cereal in summer, oatmeal in winter.

So let me know -
- where to eat, what to do, where to go, what to eat
- what have you eaten lately that's been amazing?
- do you have any great friends you have met online through blogging? I'd love some food blogging friends, often my friends in the real world don't even care about these kinds of things :)

P.S. – A huge thank you to the wonderful Healthy Living Bloggers Newsletter team.