I call them ridiculous cookies as they are just too damn easy and yummy. My good friend Jill shared this recipe with me and I was really thinking - it must be joke! I was pretty sure it's one of those things that suppose to be super healthy but turn out to be completely uneatable:( well well I was wrong!

I was really skeptical about that recipe. Sounded like it's way too little ingredients and it will never bake properly. But since it's just 2 ingredients I decided to give it a go cause even if I had to throw all of it in the garbage I would not loose much. So here you go - grab a pen and write it ALL down;)))

RIDICULOUS RECIPE:

- one mashed banana,

- half a cup of oats.

Oh yeah! That's it! You just mash a ripe banana with a fork and add oats. Mix it together with the same fork and form cookies. Recipe makes about 6 cookies. That is just brilliant as I can divide them equally between my two kids so no one has a reason to fight:) I used traditional rolled oats like this and baked it on a non stick silicon pan.

Baking takes 15min and preparing about 1.5min which means you can bake them for kids breakfast before they even get out of bed! Actually that was my idea since I am fighting every morning for the past 4 years with my daughter to eat breakfast. I thought this may be a good idea for something in her stomach before school. Obviously I can't do it every day as it gets boring but once a week is fine. They like it as its really sweet thanks to banana. You can try adding splash of organic honey or sprinkle some cinnamon. Anything really:)

I hope your kids will like it as much as mine did! And to be honest with you I also eat all the leftovers:)

Okra was always a mystery for me - looked really appealing in the veggie section of the supermarket but somehow I never managed to find (or even start looking for:) a good recipe using it. And then just a few days ago my dear friend mentioned it during a random kids conversation and since I knew she is a cooking freak I asked her for the recipe. Believe me or not but that was the most simple recipe to follow, took me about half an hour to cook and about 3 min to lick my plate!
All the pictures on this blog are mine and real so you can see how colourful my pot was! I think it was calling my name to eat it:)




Here it is:


- one big onion - I used red one
- oil for frying
- 6 cloves of garlic
- one whole bunch of fresh coriander
- 500g fresh tomatoes
- 1 glass of water
- salt and pepper
- lemon juice


Heat some oil in a pan and throw diced onion (one big - I am using red onion usually for more flavour) and heat on medium until tender. Then throw chopped bunch of fresh coriander with 5 cloves of minced garlic (I used ready garlic and ginger paste cause I am lazy). Then add okra (I used frozen about 1/3 of a packet) and stir on medium heat for about 10min.
Add 500g of chopped tomatoes (fresh are the best here) and 1 cup of water. 1 teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper to taste, cover and shimmer for about half an hour. I throw some cut chicken breast at the end even though the original recipe called for beef cubes. At the end add about 5 teaspoons of lemon juice to finish it off and voilà! You got yourself a tasty healthy lunch!
Serve with rice and really however you want. My husband had it with bread and I had to add potatoes as usual:)




This is really good and kids friendly recipe as it uses all fresh ingredients without any disturbing spices. Flavour comes natural here and once introduced to kids early they will subconsciously choose this over oily and heavy fast food dishes.


Without a doubt this is my very first Lebanese dish and success already! Thanks Celine for sharing this recipe with me. Looking forward to many more!




Have fun and remember - every recipe is better if you twist it your way!

It feels like I am spending all my life in a kitchen. All I do is plan, shop, read recipes to get inspired, chop, carry loads from car home, write shopping lists on various apps so I won't miss anything, etc. Its sometimes really overwhelming and makes me feel so tired and bored. I literally have no time left as as soon its all done family jumps and all I have left is dirty dishes to deal with. Urrhhhhh.....

So I am always on a look out for some options that will make it all faster and therefore my life easier. And its not about a kitchen equipment...cause more you have more you will end up cleaning. All I am using in my simple and cheap Phillips chopper to speed up cutting things up.

My friends were always telling me about freezing stuff and how great it is but somehow I could never force myself to eat unfrozen cooked meal. It just never tastes the same! So I continue to feel my pain and cook every single day for everyone when one of my friends tell me - I GOT IT WRONG! I was supposed to freeze FRESH items so they won't go bad in the fridge if I am lazy monkey and don't use it on time. I decided to start with chopped veggies for soup. I was so annoyed with parsnip and celery root going bad as they are extremely expensive here in Bahrain comparing to Poland. For example 1kg of parsnip here costs approximately 26zl in Poland, 8$ in USA, 6 Euro or 4.9 British Pound. I know this is ridiculous and I really couldn't afford to let that rot in my fridge.

Here is what I did and it works perfectly. I mixed many veggies in one plastic bag so once I open it up it is all ready to use in one go and makes up 1 pot of soup. I shredded carrots, parsnip, celery roots, red onion and I added some frozen already green beans and corn. Once I feel like cooking a soup all I have to do it cook chicken leg with some bay leave and then throw entire frozen bag to it, cook for few minutes and soup base is done! I can do it all now in the evening when kids go to sleep as before I was usually too tired to stay and chop.

It is amazing how the simplest ideas make your life easier and why didn't I do it before?!?!
Now I am also freeing banana muffins (friend recommendation) and they are also just fine afterwards. Also if you see your bananas almost black but you know you won't be able to eat them quick try mashing them with a fork and freeze in plastic container. That way you can use them anytime you want in the future to bake that lovely banana bread!

Basically now anything I see in my fridge that is just about to go bad I try freezing. It saves tons of money and time and those both things are top one priority for every mum.
Let's become FREEZER FREAKS together!!!

Frozen theme is far most popular these days than Scooby Doo and Jetson Family when I was little. Thanks to all the wonderful sites like Pinterest you can know get inspired in minutes. Girls are absolutely crazy about Olaf and Elsa and this is terrifying all the mothers out there especially during Bday Party time. I am at the moment trying to put together a party for my 5 year old daughter and honestly I am a bit overwhelmed with the information and research. I think I need to simplify and go the easy route. Let's see.

I compiled some of my own research on Frozen treats for a party that are both easily prepared and pretty quick to make.
Have fun in the kitchen with your daughters! We will!

Who doesn't like a pancake? Here is great and easy recipe for snowflake pancake and Olaf donuts!

And that is a simple show stopper! Gorgeous and recommended by Elsa!
Find a recipe on Mom Endevours.

How about Olaf for dinner? Yum yum! Super healthy and so quick recipe to follow on Kitchen Fun with my 3 sons.

And there is no party without cupcakes! Spoonful is giving us this simple recipe for Frozen inspired cupcakes that require just about 45min of time to prepare. And the look on your child's face - priceless!

Peppermint Rock Candy created by Simply Designing by Ashley! Find recipe here. It is relatively simple to make however you need a candy thermometer.I can see that you can also use it to decorate a simple cake! Briliant!

Have fun with all those recipes and remember that the most important is to have fun at a Bday Party! I doesn't all have to look so perfect.
Share some of your recipes if you came across something easy and sweet - would love to see some of your ideas!

My kids school celebrated Valentine Day today. Everyone were asked to wear something white, pink or red instead of the school uniform. I wasn't quite sure what is the protocol for sending out Valentine Cards (I just knew from FB that some mums with kids were preparing beautiful cards for kids to share with their friends and teachers). We decided to bake heart shape cookies - the best way to say "I Love You"!

Here is our easy recipe for about 30 cookies:

• 200g of room temperature butter,
• 1/2 a cup of white sugar,
• 1 egg,
• 2 cups of flour,
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract,
• red food coloring in gel or liquid

Beat butter and sugar in a food processor until light and fluffy. Add food coloring and mix some more to get nice colorful batter. Add egg and mix. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine all the ingredients. At last add flour and mix until you form a ball. You might need to use your hands for the last part.

Roll the dough (1cm thick) - cookies need to be thick this time as otherwise they will easily break. Cut desired shapes (hearts for Valentines) and place them on a tray lined up with a baking paper.

Bake at 190C for about 12-15min. Leave on a cooling rack.

FROSTING:

• 1 cup of icing sugar
• 3 spoons of boiling water or lemon juice
• any decoration

Mix icing sugar with water and water/lemon juice in a bowl. If it is too thick add more water and if too liquid add more sugar. Dip the cookie in the frosting and place on a cooling rack. Then decorate as you wish. Even better if you let your children help you!

We also made them in cocoa version and red frosting as second batch!

I feel that cabbage is forgotten vegetable and there are not many kids friendly recipes including it. It is super popular in Poland but somehow living outside home country for 7 years now we also tend to choose other veggies in the supermarket over cabbage. So after we came back from a Birthday Party today where kids had all the french fries, pizzas and sweet juices I decided to go traditional and make stuffed cabbage (which we call "golabki" in Poland:). It is fairy easy to prepare and my kids really like it. See how yours will react:)

Recipe:

• 1 medium size white cabbage
• 2 small onions
• 1 cup of rice - I used basmanti
• 300g of minced beef or chicken
• some vegetable stock
• tomato sauce either from the packet or made from the scratch (if you don't feel like sauce you can eat it with ketchup)
• salt, pepper and any other spice that you would like to add which your family enjoys.

First you need a big pot of water to dip the whole cabbage (just remove the stump first) - placing hole after stump down. Then boil on a small heat for about 7-8 minutes. Remove and wait until it is no longer hot then carefully remove leave after leave and put it aside.
Boil the rice, let it cool in a bowl and mix it with uncooked meat and onions. Add all the spices.
Spoon the meat/rice mixture into each leave and fold it like a spring roll - from the back, then sides and roll it until the end.
Take an over proof dish and place some broken leaves on the bottom. Then put all "golabki" one by one tight and cover it with one or two broken or too small leaves as well. Pour some stock on it and bake for about 45min in medium heat oven until meat inside is cooked and cabbage is soft and tender.
Serve it with some mashed potato's, french fries or anything you enjoy.
Super easy and super yummy - just how my family likes! On top of that they freeze really good so if you have any leftovers just shove them in a plastic bag and then defrost in your microwave to have a 5 minute lunch for kiddos done!
Have fun!

Everyone who knows my son understand that there is no other theme possible for his Birthday than Winnie The Pooh. He fallen with love with this little yellow creature when he was really very small and it seems to be a true love. This is a real best friend, he is taking care of him like it would be a family member, talks to him, taking him everywhere, etc. Having said that I really had no problem with his 3rd Birthday theme!

I've decided to share with you the recipe for cupcakes that I've baked for his classmates. It was without a doubt the best surprise for Maks as the picture of Winnie looked so real on the cupcake! He couldn't believe he can eat it!

Recipe is for about 20 cupcakes:

• 220g soft butter

• 160g white sugar

• 220g all purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons of baking powder

• 3 whole eggs

• 4 teaspoons of vanilla essence

All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Shift flour and baking powder in one bowl and set aside.
Beat butter with sugar in your electric mixer until light and fluffy. Then add eggs one by one and keep mixing well. Then add dry ingredients set aside, vanilla essence and mix with spatula until all blended.
Bake about 20min in 180C or until inserted toothpick is dry.

That was an easy part. Personally I had absolutely no idea how to decorate those cakes with Winnie The Pooh. I really don't have a fancy piping equipment nor artistic skills to draw his head with the icing. Then I remembered that you can print eatable images that you insert On the cake and it looks just perfect! I contacted Pam from YummyliciousSweets in Bahrain and bought Winnie The Pooh images for 5BD only (20 pieces). All you need to do with them is to cut and stick them on a thin layer of white icing. I also made an icing crown around the picture to hide all the imperfections and for kids to do some licking!
You can either get them done locally if you have that option or order through Amazon here. They are tested and delicious and really add an extra buzz to your standard muffin/cupcake!

Icing recipe:

• 230g of butter at room temperature,
• 3 cups of icing sugar,
• 1 spoon of milk,
• and some food coloring if you want

Mix butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar in 2 or 3 parts and keep mixing. Mixture should be creamy but not too dense. If thick add some milk.
Add some food coloring if needed and put in a piping bag to make desired design.

All simple, fairly easy and cheap but looks fabulous! Do you agree? 

I am living in the Middle East for the past 7 years and only now I am starting to cook a bit of Arabic. We usually go out to eat their food as I always thought that food needs to be authentic. And it is probably true that my hummus will never be the same as Lebanese hummus but it will be totally mine and it will be whatever I want it to be:)

So I decided to start with falafel. Easy enough that I won't just waste all the ingredients - yummy and healthy at the same time. I was mostly thinking about my kids and that it would be a nice change to our daily diet.

This recipe is super easy and all you really need is a blender and a frying pan. Here is goes:

• 1 big chopped white or red onion (I used red as they have more flavour)
• 6 garlic cloves or 1 tea spoon of minced garlic
• 1 can of chickpeas, drained
• bunch of fresh parsley leaves
• bunch of fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
• 1 tea spoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

 Pulse onion and garlic in the food processor until they are all minced. Remove.
Put chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, salt, cumin and chili powder and pulse to only roughly chopped. Add the onion mixture together with baking powder and some flour. When you start pulsing this should form a non sticky small bowl. Put it in the glass bowl, cover and refrigerate for an hour.

When it is all chilled, set a pan over medium heat with some oil and pre-heat for about 3 minutes. Then add falafel bowls one by one (you can use ice cream scoop). Flip then after about 2-3minutes when they are all brown on one side. Once cooked throughout put them on a parchment paper and season with salt.

It is the best when served with pita bread and some tahini sauce.  

I have to admit that pic is not mine:( I just simply didn't have enough time to click as my daughter was clearing the plate and I think she had about 4 oversized falafels with tons of pita bread! Well done! I can now say that this recipe is kids tested! YUM!

This inspiration comes from Just A Taste.

 

 

Delicious, healthy cookies for the kids, though, you will also be delighted with them:) They smell like nutella, are slightly crunchy and hard nut! As all the cookies you can carry them up to 7 days in a airtight container. Great as a snack for a picnic or long walk! I recommend!

Ingredients for 35-40 cookies:

• 1 and 1/3 cup of wholemeal flour
• half a teaspoon of baking powder
• half a teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 115g butter at room temperature
• 115g Nutella at room temperature
• 2/3 cup of light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of finely chopped hazelnuts (I also used chopped almonds)

In one bowl mix all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a mixer bowl beat butter and nutella until light, creamy and fluffy. Gradually add sugar while mixing. Then add whole egg and vanilla essence - mix more.

Then add your dry ingredients and mix. At the end add chopped nuts and mix until all the ingredients combine.

From the dough form a walnut-size balls, place on a baking sheet (leaving lots of space between as the cookies grow during baking) and press down.

Bake at 180C for about 13 minutes or until edges turn brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!:)
And don't forget to share your comments after baking!

This is something my daughter couldn't get enough of. Simple, fast and you can use some leftovers from lunch. Here is this brilliant recipe details:

- chicken breast
- 100g of boiled rice
- can of pineapple chunks
- small can of corn
- leeks
- mayo and/or natural yogurt
- salt and pepper to taste.

I fried chicken breast with my family favourite spices and cut it in small pieces. I throw all the pineapple, corn and chopped leaks into a big glass bowl together with chicken and boiled and cooled rice. Add mayo and/or yogurt and season with salt and pepper. For some extra colour you can add red pepper. Mix well and let it stand in the fridge for at least an hour to get the best flavour.

Healthy, yummy and all that kids usually like! You may want to make a bit more to have something left for the next day lunch box.

Enjoy!

Today I would like to share with you old recipe from my grandmother and probably even from her grandmother. It is one of the most popular salads for kids so it may not be very innovative for most of you however with all those nationalities that we are surrounded by on a daily basis there might be a few that new heard of it - I hope:)

All you need for this is:
2 carrots
1 apple - the best ones are sour
lemon juice
salt, pepper
tsp of sugar
olive oil

Some versions are with yogurt or mayo but I personally like it just like that without any additional fat. It is a good idea to add some raisins if your kids like them.
It takes about 2 minutes to prepare if you have a food processor but you can also use normal shredder as the quantity is really small. You grate carrots and apple on small size grater add all the spices are mix it together and let it stand for few minutes to let the juices out. Voila! Done!

It is sweet, yummy, healthy and looks great which is a case with some kids:)

Bon appetite!

I've been asked for this recipe many times and I have to say I understand why. There are millions of different kinds of recipes floating there online and nobody is that patient to test all of them. Everyone who ever came and joined our playgroup could try it and trust it. Here it is then! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Food coloring by drops
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a pan and stir.  Cook over low heat, stirring until a ball forms.
2. Add food colouring and mix thoroughly until desired colour.
3. Cool on foil. Store in covered container.

It only takes minutes to make and do not worry about your pan - it can be easily washed by hand or in a dishwasher. If you keep it in a zip lock bag in a fridge it stays soft and easy to use for about 6 weeks.
We've made a lot of variations like adding some glitter or small objects for a sensory play. Really sky is the limit here and it only takes your imagination.

There is a great website if you are looking for an inspiration on what to do with your playdough. Have a look here - 39 Ways to Play and Learn with Playdough.
We recently used rolling pins that were originally for painting but worked great on pressing some patterns and shapes onto our pink playdough.

 

HAVE FUN!

And here is another recipe for cookies:) We actually tried going out today and we managed to squeeze a short walk but it is really cold and the wind is just unbelievable! Maks fall asleep in a stroller (how did he do it with all this wind I have no clue!) so when we came back I left him sleeping on a veranda and decided to do some baking with Maja. She was ecstatic about cutting out some shapes and she stayed focused for about half an hour! Then she was only asking "when" and "are they ready yet":)

Recipe itself was already tested for Maja Bday party but since it was a Princess Party we were doing stars. This time I came across this super shape on my favourite baking blog My Baking and thought it is really simple and unique. They are extremely cocoa-ish and the smell in your kitchen when you bake makes you sit on the edge of your chair waiting until you hear beep in your oven:)

Recipe:

• 150 g unsalted butter, softened
• 90 g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• pinch of salt
• 185 g of wheat flour
• 40 g of cocoa
  
  Place all ingredients in a bowl and knead to a smooth dough (you can also use pastry blender). Flatten dough, wrap with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for one hour.
  After this time, remove the dough from the refrigerator, roll to a thickness of about 3 mm, flouring slightly surface. Cut out cookies - you can use a ready-made cookie cutters in the shape of a button or try some tricks with bigger and smaller glass:) Cut holes (2, 3 or 4) with a straw.
  Cookies put on a baking tray lined with Teflon mat or baking paper, at short distances from each other (Cookies do not alter the shape and slightly rising). Bake at 200 ° C for about 12 minutes or until slightly browned edges. Cooking time will depend on the size of cookies. After baking, let cool on a steel grid.
  Cookies may be stored for 7 days in a closed box at room temperature.
  
  
  Bon appetit:) Ours are almost gone!!!!!

Since our Sticky Fingers playdates are closed for the summer and we are not doing any activities with you guys we BAKE! That is what both of my kids enjoy the most - even Maks! They love to sit on the kitchen counter and mix, shift flour, add ingredients and see what comes out of it. I won't even mention taste panel afterwards...it is the whole celebration and they fight who made the most of the cake!:)

It is a strawberry season and since it is a pretty short time when fresh strawberries are available and cheap we are trying to make the most of it. This cake is super easy to make and quick at the same time. It was gone in one day and seemed like the whole family wished we bake it again - soon!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 100 g butter
• 2/3 cup caster sugar for baking
• 1 large egg
• half a cup of sour cream 18%
• 1 and 1/3 cup flour
• 1 package of pudding cream (40 g)
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• a pound of strawberries, larger halved
• pearl/icing sugar for sprinkling

All of the ingredients should be at room temperature.

Flour, pudding powder, baking powder - sift and put in a bowl.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of the mixer until it is light and fluffy. Add egg and mix. Add the vanilla extract and mix.

 Then add sifted dry ingredients and cream, in three rounds, mixing only to combine all the ingredients.

The 22 cm form line with baking parchment paper. Pour the dough inside - it will be very thick but do not worry - this will help to keep the strawberries on top and they won't sink. Put strawberries on top, side by side cut side up.

Bake at 180 ° C for about 45 - 55 minutes or so or until dry stick. Remove, let cool.

Sprinkle with sugar pearls and serve.

We were drinking ice cocoa with it - it really adds some summer taste to it!

Enjoy :-).

I disappeared for a month but you wouldn't believe what a month it was!  Crazy busy with school end, packing for holidays, car accident and Maja Birthday party. So much to do that I had to cut down on internet use to save some time. Anyway I wanted to share with you today the birthday cake I created for my daughter. I am simply proud of myself as it is second cake I baked in my life and I think it came out quite nice. It took me a while to decide what to bake and where to find easy enough recipe to follow. I have to say that my daughter unfortunately didn't help much as she was changing her mind as far as design is concerned every 10 minutes so we went from Mickey Mouse cake to Princess cake and something called Magic Cake ??? and ended up as Hello Kitty. I just took charge and baked what I can instead of looking for a recipe for a Sparkly Cake!?! Sometime we mothers have to put our foot down!:) Do you like our end result?

I tried traditional polish recipe before and wanted to try something different this time. Chocolate was our choice and I knew I have to add mascarpone... I found a base recipe in here http://www.mojewypieki.com/przepis/torcik-czekoladowy-z-owocami-lata. This is my absolutely favourite blog and I bake their things all the time. It was super easy and quick. I baked two cakes and cut them both in half to add the filling. That was already super yummy cake but for Bday Party needed some more decoration. And that was the biggest problem. I really wanted to try decorating with fondant but just wasn't too sure if I can pull this off as a beginner...:( Decided to try anyway and managed to finish quite nicely. I used recipe from here Fondant. Not perfect but good enough for the first time! Maja was super happy and the whole family couldn't believe it was mine!:)

Do you want a piece?

We celebrate our play dates every time with home bakery. I only started baking when I got myself involved with Sticky Fingers and I must say I love it. It is usually simple muffin, cupcake or cake, nothing fancy, no sweet creams and amazing decorations. And it is for various reasons. First of all if you decorate a cupcake kids will only lick the top and throw the rest on the floor. It is really for mums to eat with their coffee/tea but you can't really keep kids away from our table:)
We want to introduce them to healthy sweets (some may say this does not exist!) as eating home baked cake twice a week is really good and healthy.
Mums and kids really enjoy our little morning treat and I am approached for recipes quite often. I will try to share them with you over here then and I appreciate any comments or suggestions for next baking extravaganza!
This one is extremely simple as it only requires one bowl and few ingredients to mix with a fork. They are super delicious, sweet, soft and the smell when you bake them is just to die for. Here is what you need:

• 310ml of milk
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoon of honey
• 230g powdered coconut
• 125g sugar
• 70g all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 big eggs

First you need to boil milk with honey and set aside to cool. Then mix coconut powder, sugar, flour and baking powder in one bowl. Slowly pour milk mixture and mix with a fork until ingredients blend nicely. At the end add beaten eggs and mix.
Put in the mixture into muffin tins at 2/3 height and bake at 200C for about 25-30min.
BON APPETIT!