#1 – A Simplicious Challenge: Cooking 306 Recipes

I love cookbooks. I own nearly 80 of them (including around 25 eBooks) – and I would own a lot more if I gave into every whim and desire I had to buy them. I also have a large collection of food magazines. But despite my fondness, or perhaps because of it, I have a bad habit of cooking only a handful of recipes from each book – returning to the same, familiar and appealing ones, while ignoring the recipes I think I won’t like.

Because of this, I’ve always fancied the idea of doing a Julie and Julia style challenge: to deliberately cook every single recipe in a cookbook. If ever a book was worthy of this challenge, I reckon Simplicious by Sarah Wilson is the one, with a whopping 306 recipes.

As soon I as started flicking through this book, the idea of doing this challenge started to grow on me. I was a bit worried I would do my usual: go straight to the gummy lollies and chocolate cardamom tarts, and never look back to the veggie-packed salads and meaty stews. Ultimately though, it wasn’t just the appealing recipes that encouraged me to consider this challenge. Continue reading →

Miss Marzipan’s Blueberry Muffin Baked Porridge Pots, plus an awesome IQS Chicken Burger

The house is quiet for a moment – the kids are watching Despicable Me 2 (just for the minions, of course!), so I thought I’d take the chance to pop in a brief blog post.

Spring has finally arrived in Canberra for real, after what seemed like a particularly long and cold winter. I have grown to love Canberra, but I find the winters brutal (although we do a sunny winter’s day quite well). I’m already planning a family holiday to Queensland next winter to escape for a little while!

This week I took the unexpected step of sharing my blog on my personal Facebook page, after I Quit Sugar published a post explaining why I reduced my children’s sugar intake. Although I’ve been blogging for around 18 months, until now only a handful of people have known about it. Sharing it with 100 Facebook friends, family and acquaintances was incredibly anxiety-provoking (and physically nauseating!), probably because I’ve always aimed to be open and honest on this blog. Which makes me vulnerable, I guess. But I felt so reassured and warmed by the kind words and support I received. [Literally at this moment, Despicable Me 2 is playing ‘Happy’, which seems like an appropriate soundtrack as I type!].

I’ll also take this opportunity to share a few new recipes I tried recently, that I loved, by Miss Marzipan (Marisa), and I Quit Sugar. I hope everyone has a great long weekend! Continue reading →

Why my family quit sugar: with tips and strategies for parents who want to reduce their children’s sugar intake

This post describes my family’s experience of going sugar-free, along with some strategies for other parents who are interested in reducing their own children’s intake of sugar and processed foods. It doesn’t come from a place of judgement or criticism – I am lucky and privileged to have been in a position to make this lifestyle change, so I would never judge another person, or parent, for their decisions. Continue reading →