Popcorn

How does it happen? 

How does time past by me so quickly? One minute it’s 2012 and the next, it’s not! I wish I could say that I’ve been doing lots of productive activities, climbing high peaks, achieving lifetime goals, but no, nothing like that. 

Sandrolls

My children strongly dislike sandwiches.  I would almost say that they are borderline bread haters.  No. 1 will eat a sandwich only if there’s really nothing else available.  No. 2 will refuse sandwiches even though there is absolutely nothing else.  Bread is just not a popular meal in my house.

Apart from coating both sides of the bread with pure sugar, I’ve tried everything I can think of to get them to eat sandwiches or just bread in general.  I’ve tried coating the bread in egg then frying it ie. French toast.  No luck.  I’ve tried bread and butter pudding.  No luck.  Seriously.

Anyway, life would be so much easier if they would eat sandwiches.  We could have simple cheese or tuna sandwiches, chicken and sweet corn sandwiches and even a more gourmet feta cheese, roast pepper and spinach sandwich.  I could whip up a no-cook dinner in 5 minutes instead of slaving over a hot stove (or microwave!).

So in a desperate attempt to disguise the sandwiches, I presented them in a different form, what I call ‘sandrolls’!  I came across this idea somewhere on the internet, can’t remember where though.  The photos looked better on the internet, much more spirally!  Perhaps I needed a filling with a stronger contracting colour? 

I used 2 fillings: a grated cheddar cheese, cream cheese and pineapple filling and a tuna roast pepper and garlic mayonnaise filling.

Grated cheddar cheese filling:

Grate a chunk of cheddar cheese; mix with spoonfuls of cream cheese and mashed/grated pineapple.  No measurements, I just added to my taste.

Tuna filling:

Mix a tin of canned tuna, grated garlic, mayonnaise and roast pepper (chopped finely).

 Putting the rolls together:

1.       Cut the crusts off the slices of bread.
2.       Spread the filling on the bread length-wise.  Leave about 0.5 cm of space at the end of the bread.
3.       Roll roll roll.
4.       Cut the roll into 2 or 3 sections and you’re done.

After all that grating and mixing, did my children eat the “sandrolls”? 

Nope. 

They’re not that easily fooled.

Bugger.

Gourmet snacking

I know, the title might be a little bit misleading! This might not be your idea of a gourmet snack but after a week of healthy eating, meaning no chocolate or sugary snacks, this simple sandwich hit the spot.

It’s amazing how a thick slice of cheddar cheese smothered in strawberry jam can be so satisfying. YUM!

Ps. If you think the slice of bread looks a little odd that’s because it’s the last slice, the edge of the loaf that everyone seems to not want to eat so it’s always up to me (and the ducks at the local park).

Bad

Yesterday, I had a craving.

And ate a whole bag of corn chips.
I’ve been bad.

At least they were organic!

German Kangeroos

We’ve finally landed in this strange land of beer and sausages. Having explored the tiny town where we’re temporarily staying, I headed into the equally tiny supermarket to see what they had on their shelves. Given that this is a really small town built around a car manufacturer, or the car manufacturer was built around the town…I’m not sure which one came first…you know, the chicken or the egg….

Anyway, firstly, Germans seem to be a health–conscious lot; despite their stereotypical love of beer and sausages, and are really into organic food which is great to see. Even in a small local supermarket, the shelves were loaded with organic supplies.

Secondly, I found a little bit of Australia in this supermarket! A kangaroo snack! No, not a snack for kangaroos ie. not kangaroo food. People-food shaped in tiny kangaroos. They were paprika flavoured-baked (or fried – I’m not sure I can’t read German!) snacks but they were so cute! And yummy!

Diet – I need to remember that I’m attempting to diet!

Edamame

It’s no secret.
I’m Asian and I eat a lot! Hubs is always amazed by how much my family can put away in one sitting. We can eat for hours while he’s usually done in about 15 minutes.

Anyway, I not only eat a lot, I also snack a lot (you know, I have to keep my metabolism up for the really big meals!). I’m always on the lookout for healthy or at least semi-healthy snacks. I’m on an Edamame craze at the moment however it can be a bit of a pain to find sometimes. We’re lucky that our local Tang Frères stock it.

I usually just dump a whole lot into a pot of boiling water, then drain the water and sprinkle some salt over the edamame. My Japanese hairdresser in Melbourne tells me that this is a really popular tv snack in Japan, especially during the baseball season!

It’s very more-ish!