CC Dried fruit and coconut balls

Some days it seems that Dolly eats far better than Sylvia. Dolly is often "hungy" and seems to like more foods than Sylvia. This morning I despaired of getting her to eat much breakfast. I took a bag of grapes for her to eat once we were in the car. Sylvia was more interested in the naked vine which she told me looked like a little bracelet or even like a dinosaur. At least I could give her one of the dried fruit and coconut balls that we made yesterday.

The balls are actually called Dried Fruit and Coconut Candies but I find the word "candy" is just not mine. Too American. Too sweet! So I say balls! I found the recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking while idly browsing. It seemed perfect for this fortnight's Cookbook Challenge. The theme is Outdoors. Picnic anyone?

Unfortunately the weather has scuppered my attempts at a picnic. But like in one of my favourite childhood books, The (Berenstein) Bear's Picnic, home is sometimes the best place for a picnic. However, if the weather was kind, one of my favourite foods to take along to an outdoor gathering is a sweet ball rolled in coconut. Usually involving chocolate. But not always.

These ones just had dried fruit, nuts and coconut. Simple. Just as well. I can't do complicated right now. Even so I had to unpack the food processor to make these. Half the kitchen is in boxes while some benches are remade and moved. I had planned to wait over the few days the work would take. Then a delay set in. I decided I couldn't wait. I was snacking on shop-bought muesli bars. I knew I could make better.

An under-equipped kitchen with not much bench space was no barrier to my need for home made sweet treats. I had contemplated making these while Sylvia was sleeping. She had other ideas. It is a mystery why a toddler who has been up a lot of the previous night will not have a nap. Less of a mystery is the child's delight in helping out. She loves cooking. Who wouldn't?

I had so little room on the bench I first thought we could assemble the balls on the couch amid jigsaws and cookbooks. That idea didn't last long. Far too messy. Then I tried the highchair. Sylvia was determined to help me roll the balls in coconut but it was too far for her to reach up. Finally we got a little coffee table. Oh what a mess! But she had a lovely time. Sylvia even loves to help sweep up afterwards - a useful skill when you spill so much - though I am not sure Zinc would agree when chased with the broom.

These balls make delicious seem virtuous. Soft and sweet in the way of dried fruit with just a little texture from the coconut and nuts. They reminded me of similar balls I used to love at my university food co-op and have since encountered at health food shops. They are as hippy-dippy as Jesus-sandals and granola. The sort of treats that you wont feel guilty eating for breakfast. They are not E's cuppa tea but let's just say that Sylvia and I had to exercise self-control when faced with the mixture.

To see what other outdoors food has been made on the Cookbook Challenge go to the community page.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Bread and Roses for International Women’s Day
This time two years ago: Broccoli Burgers are Winners
This time three years ago: Berry good oaty pancakes

Dried fruit and coconut balls
From The Joy of Vegan Baking
makes about 40 balls

1 cup dried apricots
1 cup dried dates*
1 cup sultanas or raisins*
1 cup walnuts
1 cup shredded coconut
2-3 tbsp fruit juice
1 cup dessicated coconut, for rolling

Place apricots, dates, sultanas (or raisins) and walnuts in food processor and pulverise until gritty. Add shredded coconut and blend further. Add 2 tbsp of juice and the mixture should come together into a ball. Add an extra tablespoon of juice if needed to bring the mixture together.

Tip the dessicated coconut into a shallow bowl. Pinch small amounts to roll into walnut sized balls. Roll each ball in the coconut so they are evenly coated. Enjoy!

Update March 2012 - am still making these regularly - last week made these with prunes instead of dates and cranberries instead of sultanas or raisins.  Loved it, though I think it was slightly less sweet and less squidgy without the dates.

On the stereo:
Livin' fear of James Last: Nurse with Wound

MLLA Renovation pancakes

I had thought that I had baked my last dinner with our trusty old oven. Half our kitchen benches were taken out on Saturday with a promise of returning to fit a new oven and new benches yesterday. But we are still waiting. Dinner doesn't wait. Nor do pancakes. Today is Shrove Tuesday. Despite half our kitchen being packed in boxes, I wanted to make pancakes for dinner.

The kitchen table is in the loungeroom with glass doors and a rangehood on it. I am without my favourite knives but I did find my favourite chopping board and frypan from the boxes in the rest of the house. I even had to go and search for an oven mitt when the oven timer rang. I've been avoiding buying too much food while space is even more limited than usual.

Above is a selection of vegetables gleaned from the kitchen. At the forefront is a squash that my neighbour gave me. Her mother gave it to her but we weren't sure what it was so it might not have suited their diet. I was told it was like zucchini so decided it would lighten the filling somewhat.

After I took this photo my camera batteries gave out and I couldn't find any more because they were packed away (I prefer a battery charger but the last couple of chargers have died). Fortunately E was able to pick up some for me on the way home.

Sylvia was quite interested in the pancakes but didn't fancy actually tasting the baked version. She ate about half one with her chickpeas and vegies and then had one with a smidge of honey for dessert. I must try these again for her. I loved the ritual of my mum making pancakes when I was a child.

As for E and me, we loved the pancakes stuffed with potatoes and lentils. They were very tasty and satisfying, even without a side salad or vegies. I felt like it was a great way to use up some food that had been lingering. Though even while we enjoyed dinner, we couldn't escape the temporary nature of the house. Sylvia, who had eaten earlier, found a plate stand, tried to sit on it and fell off. Dinner had to be set aside for a cuggle.

Once things are complete, I will write a bit more about the changes in the kitchen. I hope it will be soon.

Meanwhile I am sending these pancakes to My Legume Love Affair (#33), founded by Susan of the Well Seasoned Cook and hosted by Dee and K of Ammalu's Kitchen this month.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Panzanella and return to work
This time two years ago: WTSIM… Pineapple and Banana Chutney
This time three years ago: Nutroast in the time of vagueness

Pancakes filled with potato and lentils
Inspired by Sarah Brown's Vegetarian Cookery
serves about 4

Pancakes:
Adapted from Sarah Brown
(makes about 7-8)

• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup wholemeal flour

Stuffing:

• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1/2 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1-3 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 strips facon (or use extra smoked paprika, salt and garlic)
• 1 funny looking medium squash or a zucchini, diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tin of brown lentils, rinsed and drained (or a cup of cooked lentils)
• 1 tsp seeded mustard
• dash of salt, smoked paprika, chilli powder and cumin, or to taste

Topping:

• A few dessertspoons of vegan queso sauce or any tomato sauce
• grated mozzarella cheese

Cook potatoes and sweet potato in salt water until soft. Drain and set aside.

While potatoes are cooking, make pancakes. Lightly whisk the egg, milk and oil with a fork. Add wholemeal flour and whisk well until smooth (or use a blender).

Heat a non-stick frypan over medium head and lightly oil the frypan either with a little oil and some kitchen towel to wipe it over the frypan or using oil spray. Pour about 1/4 cup of mixture, or a little more, into the frypan and swirl around a little to cover as much of pan as possible. Fry the pancakes for a couple of minutes until the mixture is cooked through and is a light golden brown when flipped. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on the other side until lightly browned. (NB these are thin pancakes and don't bubble up when ready to flip unlike the thicker ones I ate throughout my childhood.) Keep pancakes in a stack on a plate until you are ready to assemble with stuffing.

To make the stuffing, fry the facon for about 5 minutes in a teaspoon of oil until starting to brown. (I used the same frypan I used for pancakes.) Add onion and fry until it is browned - I gave it a while until little flecks of char were appearing. Add squash or zucchini and cook until it softens. Stir in lentils and spices. Add potatoes and sweet potatoes and stir well, squashing a bit with the back of the spoon.

Grease and line a baking dish. Preheat oven til 220 C. On a flat surface, place a pancake and put 2-3 generous dessertspoons of filling along the middle. Roll up and place on baking tray. Spoon queso sauce over the top and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes until cheese is golden brown.

Update: if like me you only fill half the pancakes, the rest of the filling is delicious mixed with some brown rice.

On the stereo:
The Greatest Hit: Teardrop Explodes

A Neb at Nut Roast II - Announcement

Calling all nut roast aficionados! Seeking nut roast novices! Back in 2008 I held a blog event called a Neb at Nut Roast to share my enthusiasm for nut roasts. A recent spate of nut roast love has encouraged me to hold the event again. It seems there are folk out there who are willing to join with me in adoration of the mighty nut roast. Or at least willing to make one! The event will close on 5 May 2011.

I wrote up a long post describing, praising, listing nut roasts when I held the event in 2008. The rules will also be the same. For information about nut roasts and the rules, read the 2008 Neb at Nut Roast invitation. You can also find more information on Wikipedia.

In the 2008 invitation I listed nut roasts on my blog and elsewhere. Since then I have continued to update that post with nut roasts that I have tried. I thought for this post it would be good to share with you some of the nut roasts around the blogosphere since my event:

• Cheese Cashew and Nut Roast with Sherry Sauce - Feast with Bron
• Demuth's Christmas Roast - Smarter Fitter
• Egg-free Nut Roast - Food in the Main
• Mexican Lentil Nut Roast - Vegan about Town
• Mushroom Tofu Nut Roast - Allotment to Kitchen
• Nut Roast Cupcakes (no recipe but great inspiration for presentation) - Veggie Wedgie
• Pumpkin and Leek Nut Roast - The Kitchen Playground
• Spicy Lentil Quinoa Nut Roast - Lisa's Kitchen
• Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf - Fat Free Vegan
• Walnut and Cashew Nutloaf - The Kitchn

These give you an idea of the infinite varieties of nut roasts. I'm always excited to discover new nut roast recipes and new ways to serve it.

I invite you to cook and nut roast and send it to me. Feel free to try one of the recipes from above, from my 2008 Neb at Nut Roast invitation list or from the 2008 Neb at Nut Roast round up. British vegetarian cookbook writers (such as Rose Eliot) and historic cookbooks are also good sources of nut roast recipes. Or create your own and use the Vegan Lunchbox's Magical Loaf Studio if you need some help. You could even recreate your favourite nut burger recipe as a nut roast.

Finally, I know that nut roasts are most often associated with Christmas - in fact my blog stats go up with all the nut roast searching in the festive season. However I must protest that nut roasts can fill the place of roast meat or meat loaf, which in my childhood were regular meals. But if you want a special occasion, then you could use nut roasts to celebrate St Patrick's Day, Easter, May Day or any birthdays and other anniversaries.

So get your thinking caps on and make a nut roast. Post it, use the event badge at the top of this post if you wish, and send it to me (gggiraffe07 AT yahoo DOT com DOT au) by 5 May 2011. I will post a round up soon after so we can all share the nut roast love.

Update: read the 2011 Neb at Nut Roast round up

Dinosaur farm, white mudcake and teddy racers

Sylvia's birthday cake on her recent birthday was a simple affair because I wanted to keep the more complicated cake for when there were more people to share it. We invited friends and their kids to celebrate in a nearby park last weekend. I swithered and dithered over lots of birthday cake designs - lego, dollies, cats etc. In the end I had to be realistic about how much time I had to decorate the cake and settled for a classic farmyard cake from the Australian Women's Weekly (AWW).

I had an easier time of deciding on the type of cake to bake. I had chosen a white chocolate mud cake. It was a simple recipe to bake the night before. (Thanks to Chele for inspiration.) I did wonder if anyone has ever seen white mud! I also made hummus, vegan queso dip, and grubs on the previous day. All I had to do on the morning of the party was decorate the cake, chop vegies and fruit, open some packets of rice crackers and made tiny teddies in racing cars.

I woke on the day of the party and the rain of the previous evening was still with us. There were a few emails and phone calls checking where we were meeting. I decorated the cake and hoped for the rain to clear. Fortunately this cake is easy and could be done while Sylvia ate breakfast with E. I finished the cake, chopped the vegies and was packing the food in hope.

By then the rain was even heavier and it was too wet for the park. It was time to put Plan B into action and hold the party at home. No problem. Just a matter of tidying up and throwing all our clutter on our bed in 30 minutes and shutting the door. Gulp!

It was probably just as well we were at home because by the time people began to arrive I was still slowly making the Teddy Racers. I found the idea over at Dunn to Perfection. It seemed simple. Just squash some Arnotts Tiny Teddies into mini Milky Ways. Chop a Lifesaver in half and push in to make a steering wheel. Use a bit of icing to glue on Smarties for wheels and mini M&Ms for headlights.

It took a lot longer than I had expected. They are not a "recipe" to make while hosting a party. Or maybe not a "recipe" to attempt while watching a small child. Not even something that a 2 year old can help with. Too many temptations. At one stage I had to prise a Lifesaver out of Sylvia's mouth, because she had bitten into it in the packet and it was still in the wrapper.

Sylvia was fascinated by them. "Baw baw!" (That is how she says brm brmmm.) When her older cousins arrived they loved helping and I was asked quite a few times when we could eat them. My mum wanted to know if they could be made with tim tams. They disappeared as soon as I said go. Definitely a highlight!

The cake was also a hit with the kids. I have made it before with farm animals as you can see here. Sylvia had chosen the packet of dinosaurs down the street (before lying on the ground and kicking her heels in the supermarket and then throwing dolly out of her stroller on the way home). I put it on a little coffee table so the kids could crowd around it to sing Happy Birthday. Some little fingers managed to push some of the fence over while waiting to sing but I am sure they were just in league with the dinosaur freedom fighters. Sylvia didn't want to blow out the candles so Cooper willingly helped out.

The actual white chocolate mud cake was a good dense cake that would be easy to carve up for novelty cakes and it was great for cutting into thin slices. It was buttery and sweet so E loved it. My niece Ella, who loves most of my cakes, was a little disappointed with it. I think she expected dark chocolate. Despite Ella's reservations, there wasn't much cake left by the time everyone left.

Sylvia had a lovely time. She was quite happy to run about with the kids and even gave her dolly to her little cousin, Baby A, to cuddle. Our friends were very generous with presents - cooking stuff, a cash register, clothes, books, jigsaws, toys. She has had lots of fun with them.

Above is a special present that she received from my mum and dad. When Sylvia was born she slept in the white cane cot that was made for my mum when she was a baby. This little dolls cot was made at the same time. Many little girls in my family have played with it before Sylvia. Including me. Apparently I put it too close to the fire and burnt the side. My mum repaired it then, just as she has recently given it a fresh coat of paint. Sylvia loves it. Dolly goes in and out often. Sylvia also likes to climb in (despite my remonstrations) but hasn't worked out how to get out.

The dragon at the top of the page was also a present. She calls him a dinosaur. I read her a book this week and she thought the elephants were dinosaurs. I was surprised as one of her favourite songs is Heidi Ho ("the great big elephant is so slow"). She can even sing this song. But I guess she has dinosaurs on the brain. No wonder she chose to have a dinosaur farm birthday cake.

For more about Sylvia's birthday you can read about her birthday pizza, banana berry birthday cake and lunch at Teatime & Tales.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Sylvia's green pram cake
This time two years ago: Hummingbird Cake
This time three years ago: Cookies with an Autumn Glow

White Chocolate Mud Cake
adapted from AWW via Cook Almost Anything

250g butter, diced
180g white chocolate, broken into chunks
1 cup caster sugar
180ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour*
1/2 cup self-raising flour*
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Chocolate icing
adapted from AWW Cakes and Slices cookbook

60g dark chocolate
90g butter
1 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)
2 dessertspoons cream

How to decorate farmyard birthday cake:
adapted from AWW Children's Birthday Cake Book

2 packets of chocolate finger biscuits (or use kitkat fingers)
1 cup coconut
few drops green food colouring
plastic farm animals or zoo animals or dinosaurs

To make cake: Grease and line a 22cm round cake tin (mine is a spring form tin). Preheat oven to 170 C/340 F.

Melt butter, white chocolate, sugar, milk and vanilla essence in a large heatproof bowl in the microwave (or a large saucepan on the stovetop over low heat) until mixture is smooth. Cool about 15 minutes. Stir in flours and then eggs until you have a smooth but quite runny batter.

Pour batter into prepared cake tin and bake for about 1 hour 40 minutes until cooked through. A skewer came out cleanly when inserted into the cake when I took it out. If the cake is browning too much before it is cooked, place some foil over it. Cool cake in the tin.

To make icing: I melted butter and chocolate, then added icing sugar and a few spoonfuls of hot water but it was so stiff that I added a little cream and then it seemed a bit runny but actually was just a lovely soft icing. In future I might melt butter, chocolate and cream together and then add icing sugar and no water.

To assemble: Turn cake out of the tin and place on a serving plate. Pour the icing over the top of the cake and use a butter knife to push it over the sides and smooth it around the sides of the cake. (As an aside, I find it odd the the AWW recipe calls for green icing because I think chocolate is more realistic to represent the dirt under the coconut grass.)

Place the chocolate sticks around the edge of the cake to resemble a log fence. The should be upright next to each other, with the smooth side facing inwards. If your farm or zoo set has a gate you can pile a few sticks horizontally with the gate on top but there was not gate for these dinosaurs.

Mix the coconut and green food colouring until the coconut is a nice green (I use my fingers to mix). Sprinkle coconut over the top. Arrange plastic animals (and a tree) in the green coconut grass paddock. It is good to keep a little coconut aside and if you need to change the placement of the animals you can sprinkle more coconut where the animal's hooves made imprints.

*Update: October 2013: I made a gluten free version of this cake for my dad's birthday party.  I doubled the cake and instead of using wheat flour I used 2 cups millet flour, 2/3 cup besan (chickpea flour), 2/3 cup arrowroot (tapioca flour), 2/3 cup potato starch (or cornflour), plus 2 tsp baking powder.  (Halve this if you want a gluten free cake the size in the above recipe.)  I used a roasting tin for the bigger cake and only baked it 1 hour and it wasn't cooked in the middle.  I also had it crack when turning out of the tin when warm - no wonder the recipe says to cool in the tin!

On the Stereo:
Love Songs (free CD from Mail on Sunday): Elvis Presley

PPN Spring Rolls, Salad, Changes and CNY

My systems are working well when I see it is Presto Pasta Nights' 4th birthday and I can find a special pasta dish on my delicious bookmarks. Success! I will tell you more about these spring rolls down the page but first, I wanted to reflect a little on the changing of the seasons.

March brings us into Autumn down under. It has been a strange summer of rain, floods, bushfires, cyclones and then the Christchurch earthquake. It brings a lot of suffering for one person to comprehend. Thankfully the flip side of this is seeing so many good hearted people and the indomitable human spirit that has got us where we are today.

Closer to home, life seems to bring us many changes. Sylvia, who turned two last week, is no longer a baby. She is full of constant change. At home we are looking forward to some improvements to our kitchen (but more of that later). My workplace is one change after another. We call it transition. This week has brought a change in employer for me, while doing the same job.

I will miss my university that has employed me for the past 7 years. It has been as frustrating as it has been exciting to work there. Yet it was one of my first loves of adulthood. All I wanted after school was to study there and one of my happiest moments was standing in the Old Law Quad being photographed on my graduation day. But onwards and upwards. I am now part of a new institute that I hope will grow up into an important institution.

With so much change, I have been meaning to post a few quicklinks for Chinese New Year from a few weeks back. Last year I was pleased to go to Steph's CNY potluck and learn a little about CNY. This year I have enjoyed learning more through a few interesting blog posts:

• My friend Yaz has recently moved to Hong Kong and started a blog about settling in. It was interesting to see his photos of some of the CNY displays and to read about making Year Cake, aka Nian Gaoyaz.
• K and Steph wrote about their CNY Banquet at the Veggie Kitchen.
• Helen passed on some CNY tips from Ken Hom.
• Anh posted some of her gorgeous photos for the Lunar New Year in Hanoi and reminded us that not only is it year of the rabbit in China but also the year of the cat in Vietnam.
  

Onto the food. I am indebted to the PPN founder Ruth of Once Upon a Feast for sharing her enthusiasm for all things pasta and expanding my pasta repertoire. Pasta always meant Italian until I "met" Ruth. The spring rolls that I am sending to Ruth for this week's PPN would never have counted as pasta a few years back. But now I know they will be welcome among the amazingly diverse display of pasta that will be on show in the round up.

As a homage to PPN I even baked them to spell out the initials. If I had the time and space I would have made it a bit more fancy but this was as much fun as was possible while racing around to get dinner last night.

I first made this baked spring roll recipe years ago and am sorry not to have recorded the source. Fortunately I had seen Lisa's brilliant idea of using rice paper roll wrappers because these are far easier to buy locally than spring roll wrappers. They also make a crispy chewy wrapper that is effortlessly vegan and gluten free. Though it seems like this is just a baked rice paper roll, the baked ingredients blend and thicken slightly in the process of baking them so they taste quite different.

I whipped up a dipping sauce easily after having found a good combination for my rice paper rolls. A side dish was more of a challenge. I found I had bought far too many snow peas and remembered a fantastic Japanese snow pea salad that I have made a few times. I thought it was just right but E said he would like chips with his spring rolls (he also liked vegan queso sauce on his spring rolls and said it made them just like Findus canneloni! huh!). Maybe I will try making fried rice another time as a compromise. No matter how they are served, I think these spring rolls are perfect for the cooler days when it is no problem to turn on the oven.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: WHB Potluck pumpkin cheesecake brownies
This time two years ago: Citrus Grape Cake
This time three years ago: Sydney Road – one street, two festivals

Baked Rice Paper Spring Rolls
makes 20 spring rolls

• 50g dried rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 largish carrot, grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup shredded Chinese cabbage (I used wombok)
• kernels of 1 corn cob
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• 150g firm tofu, crumbled
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 garlic clove. crushed
• 1 tsp pickled sushi (or fresh) ginger, finely chopped
• 20 spring rolls wrappers (or rice paper roll wrappers)
• oil spray (or 1 beaten egg)

Soak vermicelli noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes and then drain. Add remaining vegies and seasoning. Mix well.

If using spring rolls wrappers, keep covered and use one at a time. If using rice paper rolls wrappers, have a large shallow bowl of water to soak each wrapper in for about 10 seconds before placing flat on a board. Place a dessertspoon of filling on the one side of the wrapper. Fold edge of wrapper over the filling. Fold the sides over and then roll up so the filling is wrapped in the rest of the wrapper.

Preheat oven to 210 C (I did 220 C). Place spring rolls on a tray lined with baking paper or silicone. The recipe said to leave in the fridge for 30 minutes so I left mine at room temperature for 15 minutes. Spray with oil or brush with beaten egg.

Bake spring rolls for about 20-25 minutes or until crispy - it will be hardly brown and will soften slightly if you let it cool for a while but will remain pleasingly chewy. I served mine with a dipping sauce of tamari, chilli paste, umeboshi vinegar and a little water to make it go further.

Japanese Snow Pea Salad
adapted from Vegie Food
serves about 4

• 250g snow peas, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 small red capsicum, thinly sliced
• 1 small spring onion, thinly sliced
• 1-2 handfuls of snow pea sprouts (I used bean sprouts)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp dashi
• 1 tbsp tamari
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp finely grated ginger
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Pour hot water over the snow peas and leave about 1 minute. Rinse under cold water and drain. Add red capsicum, sprouts, spring onions. Toast the sesame seeds on a dry frypan til golden brown. Mix the rest of the ingredients to make the Japanese dressing. Toss the vegies with the dressing and sprinkle the sesame seeds over the salad to serve.

On the stereo:
Have one on me: Joanna Newsom

Happy birthday cake for Sylvia

I have told you about Sylvia's birthday pizza in my last post. Dessert was, of course, birthday cake. I asked Sylvia to choose between chocolate, carrot and banana cake. She chose banana. I wasn't sure she understood the decision but she did yell out banana quite a few times. You might notice that this post has a lot of pink. I don't generally have a lot of pink in my life but I wanted to try the beetroot powder in a frosting. This seemed like a good opportunity.

Sylvia doesn't wear lots of pink either. You can see in the above photo of her at the park on her birthday that she wore a gorgeous pink party frock on her birthday. (The dress can also be glimpsed in the Teatime and Tales post about her birthday lunch.) It was a present from my sister, Chris, and the colour is wonderful. Sometimes pink is glorious!

Perhaps Sylvia's frock is the reason a flock of geese starting to rush towards us in a Hitchcockian moment when we arrived at the Coburg Lake playground. Fortunately my country childhood has taught me to stamp my foot and hiss at them. It stopped them in their tracks and Sylvia had fun on the swings ("fings) watching the "birdies".

Back at home, I had some berry yoghurt in the fridge so I decided to make the Banana and Passionfruit Yoghurt from my AWW Cakes and Slices cookbook. I was pleased it included wholemeal flour. Given that the yoghurt seemed quite sweet, I cut the amount of sugar in half.

Sylvia helped with baking the cake. She loves to tip in the flour and have a stir. I have to watch she doesn't just flick all the batter out of the bowl. I was glad to get the cake in the oven and start making the pizza. I was so behind that I even put the cake in the fridge while we ate pizza to cool it a bit before I added the frosting.

I found a frosting recipe I had used for a wholemeal chocolate cake that didn't make oodles of frosting and didn't use truckloads of sugar. The beetroot powder made a beautiful bold pink colour. In future I should remember to sift the powder which has got a little lumpy over the time since I have opened it. Lastly I decided to decorate with blueberries. Sylvia helped to put the blueberries on the cake and if you look at the top picture you might spot where she put them.

The cake was a success. We lit the two candles for Sylvia and sang her happy birthday - one of her current favourite songs that she loves to sing. She refused to blow out the candles, despite enjoying blowing out candles on my birthday. Contrary child! She ate quite a bit of cake. So did E and I.

I found it slightly bland on the first night and thought a little vanilla might pep it up. It wasn't very sweet nor strongly flavoured. However, unusually for cakes, I thought the flavour and texture improved over the next couple of days.

Maybe Sylvia agreed because she started to try eating the frosting on the second day. You can see the tracks of her curious finger in the above photo. She also enjoyed the blueberries. E thought it was such a good cake he asked if he could have this cake for his birthday.

We have a few pieces left in the freezer but I am yet to defrost and check how they travel. I froze the leftover cake when I made another cake for family and friends on the weekend. Coming to the blog in the next few days.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Each Peach - baby blocks and ice cream that rocks
This time two years ago: Hospital food and mum’s cooking
This time three years ago: My Friend the Chocolate Cake

Banana and berry yoghurt cake
adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly Cakes and Slices cookbook

• 125g butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 200ml berry yoghurt
• 2 bananas (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 cup white self raising flour
• 1 cup wholemeal self raising flour

Frosting
adapted from here

• 125g cream cheese, softened
  
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp beetroot powder (optional - you could also used food colouring if you want it pink)
  
• blueberries, for decoration

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Add yoghurt, vanilla and bananas. Mix well. Gently mix in flours until combined. Tip into a lined and greased 20cm round cake tin. Bake at 180 C for about 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack.

To make frosting, mix cream cheese, icing sugar and beetroot powder. Spread over the top of the cake and decorate with a ring of blueberries around the border of the cake.

On the stereo:
Si vis pacem para bellum: Striider, Strydwolf

Fast track pizza with sweet potato sauce

Making a birthday dinner for a 2 year old is a daunting task. One day she will gobble up something I never expected her to touch. Then the next day she will refuse to even eat her favourite chunks of tofu. I decided for Sylvia's birthday that I would make pizza. She loves it with tomato and cheese. The other challenge is that nothing happens quickly with a toddler. Before I know it, I am at the end of the day where I am trying to get her fed and to bed.

I had intended to make Isa's pizza base. It has worked well for me in the past. However, I was racing to get Sylvia's dinner together. I didn't have the luxury of letting pizza dough rise for over an hour.

I recently tried another pizza base I saw on Where's the Beef. It is similar to Katie's pronto pizza but doesn't have as much yeast per each cup of flour. Apparently, the recipe can be made in 15 minutes. I have too many distractions to ever get dinner made that quickly. What I was after was a dough that I could make like a conventional pizza dough with a few shortcuts.

This pizza worked wonderfully. My yeast is now past the use by date. I find letting it rise a little at the start, with just a little flour to feed the yeast, is a good way to check that the yeast is alive. The recipe doesn't require any kneading or proofing but I figured that if I gave it a little it wouldn't hurt. Made me feel like I was making a proper pizza. But fast tracked!

I had intended to make a standard tomato sauce but I had baked a sweet potato for some chocolate cashew frosting. I decided that Sylvia would be more likely to eat pizza sauce than frosting. The sweet potato was put in the pasta sauce. Sylvia was under my feet taking tins of baked beans from the pantry to feed to dolly. It inspired me to put some leftover baked beans in the sauce too.

Sylvia couldn't get enough of her pizza. She even ate a leftover quarter the next day. I was pleased she got some extra vegies and protein in the sauce. I never intended to sneak vegetables into her meals. In fact there is very little chance because she eats her food so plain. But I do love any way I can get more nutrition into her diet, apart from vitamins in sugary sweet syrups.

I had also planned to make a more fancy pizza for E and me but all I had energy for was a bit of extra facon on top of the sauce. With a bit of salad on the side, it was delicious. I will be making this again. It is flexible enough to fit with our lifestyle.

Lastly I must warn you that the sauce goes a long way. Not only did we also have it on Turkish bread pizza on the weekend but we also had it on pasta a couple of nights. I would have liked to have tried it in a pasta bake but life has not given much let-up lately. Meanwhile I hope to be back soon to tell you about Sylvia's birthday cakes.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: PPN: Of birthdays, farewells, and noodles
This time two years ago: Welcome little one!
This time three years ago: WTSIM...Slow Food, Tambo Salad

Sweet potato pizza sauce
makes heaps - served us for a couple of nights of pizzas and a couple of nights of pasta

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 400g tin of diced tomatoes
• 1/3 cup water (to rinse out the tomato tin)
  
• 130g tin of baked beans
• 300g baked sweet potato (skin removed)
  
• shake of chilli powder and smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Fry onion in olive oil in medium saucepan on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until browned and then add remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Blend till smooth. We kept our leftovers in the fridge for 4 days.

Fast track pizza dough
Adapted from Everybody Likes Sandwiches via Lindy Loo and Cindy and Michael

• 2 tsp dried yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 cup flour, plus extra for kneading and rolling (next time I might do this with half a cup of wholemeal flour)
  
• 1 tsp agave nectar (or honey)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• cornmeal

Preheat oven to 220 with a pizza stone in the oven.

Place the yeast, warm water, agave or honey and 1/2 cup of flour in a large bowl. Leave to sit about 5-10 minutes. It should be frothy after this time. (If it is not then maybe either the yeast is too old or the water was too hot and you should start again.) Dole out berries, draw a cat and wipe a snotty nose.

Add remaining flour, salt and olive oil. Knead a few minutes until soft. Cover and leave for 20-60 minutes, depending on how long you have. Make pizza sauce. Push toddler around in her dolls pram. Dole out more berries.

Roll out dough as thinly as possible using a floured rolling pin and a floured board (ie the dough will be sticky and need some flour to stop it sticking to your hands and board and the rolling pin - use as much flour as you need). It makes 2-3 largish pizzas. I made 2 but could have made the dough go further if I had stretched the dough out a little more thinly.

Scatter cornmeal on a pizza tray and transfer dough to tray. Arrange toppings on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toppings are golden brown.

Update June 2014: I made this pizza with 1 cup water, 1 1/2 tsp dried yeast, 1 cup sourdough starter, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp sweetener, 3 tbsp olive oil.  It was too damp to knead so I just got enough flour on my hands to pat out on pizza trays (2 round and a bit for a third tray).  It was so lovely and soft. Update December 2016 - I have written a post on fast track sourdough pizza bases because I make them so much.

On the stereo:
The Collection: Pentangle