There’s something about Carrot Loaf that has never enticed me to make it. Perhaps it’s courtesy of the dislike I held for orange vegetables for most of my life. Carrots have slowly been making their way onto my plate these last few years and when I stumbled across this Carrot Loaf recipe, I felt compelled to make it.

When reading the ingredients, I knew this was going to be a full flavoured loaf. The spices in it filled my kitchen with such an enchanting scent and when we ate it, we were not disappointed. It just tastes like a winter comfort food. We each had thirds. This loaf is topped with a cream cheese frosting which balances out the sweetness of the icing sugar perfectly. The loaf and frosting are a perfect combination of sweet with a hint of savoury, making this loaf one that will be consumed quickly.

I was hesitant to post this loaf because it’s not super quick and easy, but the taste sensation won so here it is. This is not a loaf that can be whipped up in five minutes. It probably took me around 12 minutes to get it into the tin. As I was preparing it for my family, I substituted out some sugar and replaced them with dried dates but you can do either.

I used a longer loaf tin than standard and there was enough batter to make three mini loaves with it as well but you could easily use the extra batter to make a half dozen muffins or two smaller loaves.

Carrot Cake Loaf with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

For the Cake

125g unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 large eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar – I used 1/2 a cup of sugar and 1/2 a cup of dried dates, blitzed in the food processor 

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/4 cups coarsely grated carrots, packed loosely

1 cup raisins, optional but recommended – I bought raisins for this recipe and was so glad I didn’t substitute with sultanas like I normally would

3/4 cup diced nuts (such as walnuts, pecans), optional – I omitted

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

115g cream cheese, softened

60g cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups+ icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C fan forced and spray and flour loaf pans/muffin tins.

2. Melt butter and add it to bowl with:

- oil

- eggs

- buttermilk

- sugars and/or dates

- vanilla

- cinnamon

- cloves

- allspice

- nutmeg

And whisk vigorously until combined. Because I was using the dates, I used my Kitchen Aid.

3. Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder and stir to mix it in.

4. Add the carrots and then the raisins and/or nuts.

5. Pour batter into tins, filling a little over half way as they do rise.

6. Regular loaves take around 50 minutes to bake but the mini loaves were cooked in around 20-25 minutes.

After they’ve cooled, apply the frosting.

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until softened and combined (around 2 minutes) – use the paddle attachment.

2. Add the vanilla and the icing sugar, a bit at a time, until you have your desired consistency.

3. Frost your loaves/muffins and enjoy!

I stored this in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting and it should last around five days in the fridge though ours didn’t.. it was eaten within three days..

Until next week, stay fresh, buy fresh, eat fresh, be fresh.

Sponsored by Berlei

You know you’ve had a tough morning when the first thing you say to the carers at preschool drop off is:

“Find me a pen so I can stab myself in the eye.”

What I love about our daycare centre is that they have a good sense of humor. Some of them even follow the blog (hi girls!).

Which could be a bad thing I guess, but I find its best to embrace this instance of unanonymity because I never feel like I have to pretend to be a super mum with them – or act like I think my children are God’s gift to Child Care workers.

My children are certainly not God’s gift to anyone but my family – and even then, most days I’m pretty sure my children are evidence that God’s sense of humor is firmly placed in the “slapstick/practical joke” category.

But today, despite having to face the Obstacle Course of Godly Humour in order to get my children out the door for daycare, I’m doing it all with a smile on my face, my head held high and my apron of stomach skin firmly tucked behind tights.

My Berlei Dig Free Hose to be exact.

I’m not leggings person – they always either fall down or ride up in a perfectly hilarious but entirely uncomfortable tribute to the camel toe.

And what this means is that my favourite go-to, feel awesome on crap day outfits – dresses – became null and void until Jack Frost gets wind (ha, see what I did there?) that he’s no longer welcome.

And jeans are awesome, but thanks to my recent and ongoing weight loss, finding jeans – that don’t either sit well below the one big stretch mark of skin apron I am the proud owner of, rubbing against my c-section scar, or that don’t make me feel like a total grandma because the waistband touches the underwire of my bra – has proven somewhat difficult .

So Berlei, in their great wisdom, have come up with the Dig Free Hose. Which incidentally, can be seen on posters carrying the line: “Muffin, you’re going down”.

I saw this ad on the shopping trip Berlei sent me on to find MY ultimate, feel good outfit. And was incredibly tempted to replicate the beautiful models stance, right next to the life size poster.

However, I was a little too shy to get Pal to grab a shot – and now I greatly regret that. Because what’s a blog post about tights without a shot of me next to a skinny model wearing nothing but said tights?

You’re welcome.

Oh, and see that outfit? It’s my new favourite, awesome, I feel so hot in this right now, ultimate outfit.

That’s what I’m wearing today. I also wore the dress and boots two days ago.

I’ll probably wash them tonight and wear them again the very next time I leave the house with the intention of being seen in public.

I’m pretty much in love with the dress. The boots and I are leaving Pal and running away together. The blazer is keeping me warm.

And the tights? Their magical Skin Apron taming qualities have me totally hooked.

And much less inclined towards stabby-eye pens.

What more could a girl ask for than being able to wear her ultimate outfit everyday, muffin-top, skin apron, and worry free?

How about $1000 to spend on YOUR ultimate outfit?

Berlei is giving one lucky person a cash prize of $1,000 to spend on the wardrobe of their choice, plus some Berlei Dig Frees all of their own!

All you have to do to enter is tell me in the comments:

‘What is your favourite go-to outfit to turn an ‘off’ day into a good day?’

1. Competition opens 7am Friday 10th May, 2013 and closes 9pm Friday 31st May, 2013.

2. Please read these Terms and Conditions of Entry

Have you ever had a food hangover? It’s a little embarrassing to admit but we have them with some regularity here. Nine times out of ten, the source of our hangover is meat. Pork seems to be the main offender but these hangovers have come from beef and lamb too. I think Mr P and I are going to have pork hangovers tomorrow. He hasn’t slow cooked a big chunk of meat on the Webber since before his big number birthday when he roasted an entire pig on a spit but her certainly made up for it tonight (last night). And we certainly made pigs of ourselves..

SO.. my little girl turned the big ONE this week and has decided to wean herself and embrace the bottle. Despite the fact that I was planning on weaning her myself soon, this makes me a little sad. I’ve chosen to look on the bright side, that being that her embracing the bottle means I can start to embrace the bottle again with my guilty pleasure being wine. Red or white, I don’t like to discriminate.

So I’m asking you all to please let me know which wines you like and recommend? I’m part of the ABC Club (Anything but Chardonnay) and love myself some Riesling and some Sauv Blanc (and Champagne, I’m loving Champagne at the moment) and I’m a Merlot or Cab Merlot kinda gal. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I feel like I’ve been out of the wine drinking game for far too long and would like to jump back in with some old and new friends

Okay, time for this week’s recipe. This baby is a never fail. I handed it out to a heap of my mummy friends and every single child has loved them. I will go on the record and say that I don’t like zucchini. But I do sneak it into a lot of my food courtesy of my trusty grater and then I’m quite happy to eat it. This is one of those recipes. It’s in there, but it just works to help with the flavour, you can’t really distinguish it.

This recipe makes two dozen so I usually freeze half for when I don’t have time to bake.

Zucchini Muffin

Ingredients:

• 750g grated zucchini (about 5 or 6, depending on their size) with some of the excess liquid squeezed out
• 2 onions chopped finely (I blitz mine in the kitchen wizz)
• 250g bacon bits (or bacon cut up into little pieces)
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 2 cups grated cheese (I like to use Pizza cheese for that nice blend of cheeses)
• 10 regular size eggs or 7 jumbo eggs
• 1/2 to 1 cup vegetable oil (I find this depends on how much liquid is left in your zucchinni. Just add a bit at a time, making sure the oil is mixed in. If you do add too much oil, just add a tablespoon (at a time) of flour in until the oil is worked in a bit more.)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C or 160C if fan forced.

2. Lightly beat eggs.

3. Combine all ingredients.

4. Be generous when buttering/spraying your muffin tin or use paper because these babies like to stick. Scoop into muffin tin. These don’t rise a lot so you can fill them mostly to the top.

5. Bake for 30 minutes. Muffins are done when skewer comes out clean

And there you have it. Healthy muffins that taste good too.

Now don’t forget to leave your wine recommendations down the bottom. I’m counting on you guys to catch me up I’ve got a year or two of irregular wine consumption to make up for.

And until next week, stay fresh, buy fresh, eat fresh, be fresh.

Technically, both my parents are high school drop outs.

My Dad left school to join the Navy at 16.

My Mum left to join the workforce at 15.

Both have owned and operated multiple businesses. Held multiple positions. Dad has a trade.

Both are now in their 50s, and both would be considered successful in their field.

And both have been mature age students.

My mother, at the age of 38 and with three children (two teenagers and one preteen – the joy that must have been) shifted our family to Canberra to begin her very first degree at ANU. She completed that degree, and her Honours, and her Dip Ed in the space of four and a half years.

My father is currently studying for his Masters in Business Administration in his “spare” time.

So, I guess leaving before finishing high school worked for both of them in the long run.

I’m a university drop out. Burn out. Crash and burner.

I’ve done it twice now – once when I attended university straight out of high school. Once only last year when it all became rather too much for me.

This last time affected me most.

I really wanted to do it. I wanted to study and be a stay at home mum. I wanted to be able to “do it all”.

And I couldn’t. Because I am an all-in person and was finding I couldn’t be all-in with both study or being a mum.

I do nothing by halves. I either do it 110% or I don’t do it at all.

In other words, I’m the laziest over-achiever you’ve ever known.

But I have hope. Great hope. Because it turns out that I’ve got these amazing examples to aspire to.

My Mum and my Dad. Both successful, both tackling tertiary study mature age (not nature age, Dad…)

And I know that with both of them supporting me, guiding me, I have found something in crochet that I both love to do and that is achievable with my current situation.

You know, that whole, pesky, stay at home Mum to three kids thing.

And one day, completing study may be on the cards for me. Right now, though, it’s not my turn.

Why Dads and typos/autocorrect should not be mixed… Thanks again for the visual, Dad…

This blog post was inspired by my Dad, who emailed me asking if I could share this link with you – he needs some help from the “Mums N Bubs” section of society, and seeing as I am firmly placed in that category, as are most of you, I said yes.

If you could fill out this QUICK survey to help my Dad get his MASTERS, then I’d be greatly appreciative:

Parents with young children -  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/G57BRC9

P.S. It’s completely anonymous and he needs about 15-20 more completed surveys. PLEASE? Pretty please with sugar on top? I’ll love you forever and ever?? I filled one in too!

I’m just going to put it out there, I love breakfast.

It’s my favourite meal of the day. When asked what I would like for dinner, Brenner (Breakfast for Dinner) is usually my response.

It’s also the meal I skip the most because it can take a lot of time to get two small children out the door and not run obscenely late, daily. Add to that that I’m not  a morning person and will stay in bed until about 10 minutes after the last possible moment needed to get up and get out of the house on time.

My dislike of removing myself from underneath the covers frustrates Mr P greatly a little. Particularly as he views 6am as a sleep in. And my sleeping in means he has to get up and deal with take care of our little angels who have A LOT of energy first thing in the morning. I will point out that he only has to do this one morning a week, the rest are all for me.

Despite my love affair with my doona, I do like feeding my kids a healthy breakfast. Great start to the day and all that jazz. But I also like to keep it simple. Here are my easy breakfasts for the time poor.

Kids Weet-Bix with mashed banana. Or I froth some extra milk when making my coffee and add it to their weet-bix for a treat. I also like to add sultanas or berries.

Banana Ice-Cream. Because I’m a cool Mum, I serve my kids ice-cream for breakfast some days! Often it’s just frozen banana (see how to do it here) and other days I get real creative and use different frozen fruit, adding some frozen yoghurt to it for extra goodness. At the moment we are loving banana ice-cream with a tablespoon of peanut butter added to it.

OIAJ – Oats in a Jar. This is Mr P’s favourite breakfast because he prepares it the day before but I find it helpful on those mornings where I want to feed them a filling breakfast, fast!

Mr P’s OIAJ Recipe:

• 1/2 cup of oats
• 1 cup of milk/yoghurt combination
• 1 tablespoon of chia seeds
• Stewed fruit or dried fruit to taste
• 1 teaspoon or so of honey (more or less depending on how sweet the fruit you’ve added is).

Combine all in a microwave safe jar and microwave for 1 minute if you’ve added dry fruit and 1.5 minutes if you’ve added stewed fruit. The pop it in the fridge and it’s good to eat for breakfast the next day.

Air popped popcorn with fruit and yoghurt. Simple, easy, nutritious. My kids are at an age where I don’t have to cut up most fruits so this makes it even easier. Not to mention they can eat the yoghurt at the table and the popcorn and fruit in the car.

Grapes are great at the moment so this Crimson Passion dessert is great for breakfast.

This simple Fruity Couscous will keep them happy too.

There are my tips for breakfasts. Don’t shy away from a cold breakfast just because we’re coming into winter. I still drink hot coffee every day regardless of the season!

Being the first post of the month I thought I’d let you guys know..

What’s good to eat in May:

Fruit - Apples, Blueberries, Bananas, Chestnuts, Custard Apples, Fuyu Persimmon, Grapefruit, Grapes, Imperial Mandarins, Green and Gold Aussie Kiwifruit, Lemons, Limes, Melon, Aussie Navel Oranges, Passionfruit, Pears, Firm eating Plums, Pomegranates and Raspberries.

Vegetables - Asian Greens, Artichokes, Beans, Broccoli, Broccolini, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower, Celeriac, Celery, Fennel, Jerusalem Artichokes, Leeks, Mushrooms, Parsnips, Pumpkin, Sweet Potato, Tomatoes, Zucchini.

Well I hope I’ve inspired you a little to spice up your breakfast! Until next week, stay fresh, buy fresh, eat fresh, be fresh.

What is your favourite meal of the day? What time constitutes a sleep in in your house?

I was gifted a Dymo Letratag machine with refills for the purposes of this review.

No payment was received.

Only label glee.

And for some reason, I have always felt that having a label machine would fix all my problems and put me into a state of perpetual organisation.

I can tell you right off the bat, that this is not the case.

Whilst having the DYMO around has given me much joy (oh, tappy keys, a little cutter button, getting to play with size and format – fun!) it has not made me super organised, and I doubt it ever will.

However, having labels all around the home gives me the delusion illusion of being organised – and as long as I am fooling myself then all is right with the world.

What the DYMO has done (other than the tappy key happiness) is help me keep on top of my wool stash.

My stash is not huge, but with an addiction for yarn and a busy little crochet doll & accessory business, my shelf can tend to get rather untidy.

Partly because it would annoy me in an uncharacteristically OCD way if the label said one thing, and the yarn was actually another.

Partly because the horror of getting caught out having DK cotton in my undyed wool section would be immense.

Don’t laugh, there are people all over the internet that can tell which yarn is which in the background of a photo. And would contact me to tell me I have placed yarn in the wrong section.

So, on that note – who wants a DYMO Letratag of their very own?!?!

To win your own DYMO Letratag Machine and two sets of tape

All you have to do is comment on this post, telling me what you would label and why

Terms and Conditions

1. Open to Aussie Residents only

2. Competition opens Saturday 27th April 2013 and closes 9pm Sunday 12th May

3. This is a game of skill, winner will be chosen based on the originality of their comment.

We were gifted a sample pack of Pink Poppy products for the purposes of review.

No payment was received.

Unless you count the fun.

Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so far away.

There lived three little princesses who were great friends.

They spent their time together telling secrets in (not-so) hushed tones.

They were kind to one another, and lived to make the world smile.

They ran.

They laughed.

And twirling? Twirling was essential.

Pink Poppy is giving you the chance to win a Fairy and Princess Essentials pack for your own fairytale fun!

Pack includes:

1 X Fairy fantasy dress (RRP $49.95)

1 X Princess Crown with gems (RRP $4.95)

1 X Sparkle Wand (RRP $4.95)

1 X Pair Fairy Fantasy Wings ($14.95)

1 X Princess Lockable Diary (RRP $9.95)

1 X Essentials Fairy Sticker pack (RRP $2.95)

1 X Princess Shaker Tumbler (RRP $8.95)

1 X Tea Party Music Box (RRP $24.95)

1 X Tea Party Porcelain Tea Set with carry box (RRP $24.95)

1 X Sweetness and Charms Photo Frame (RRP $22.95)

1 X Sweetness and Charms Shoulder Bag (RRP16.95)

1 X Fantasy Bow headband (RRP $4.95)

1 X Fantasy Bow Hairclip (RRP $1.95)

1 X Fantasy Bow hair elastic (RRP $1.95)

1 X Sweetness and Charms Bracelet (RRP $5.95)

1 X Sweetness and Charms Necklace (RRP $6.95)

Total Prize = RRP $208.20

To win, comment on this post telling me what your (or your children’s) princess essentials are, and then complete the Rafflecopter form below.

NOTE: The only mandatory field is the comment, completing other fields is at your discretion and not required for entry into this competition.

This competition is a game of skill – winner will be chosen on the basis of originality of their answer.

Competition opens Sunday 28th April 2013 and closes 9pm Sunday 12th May 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mornings have not been kind to me here at ProFruit HQ. They are getting colder. Too cold in fact. And when I’m cold I crave comfort food. Slow cooker usage is usually pretty high too. Though this year I am determined to give my pressure cooker a good work-out as well.

I have a hearty slow cooker recipe heading your way soon, a beef with honey mustard sauce one – it just needs a few more ‘tweaks’ and I’ll be happy to release her. In the mean time, here’s a crumble for you which uses Anzac biscuits. I don’t know about you but I love myself a yummy Anzac biscuit. I’ll bake a fresh batch today but for this recipe I used store bought.

Apple, Pear and Anzac Biscuit Crumble

Ingredients:

• 3 green apples, cored and sliced*
• 3 red apples, cored and sliced*
• 3 pears, cored and sliced*
• 500ml of water
• 3/4 cup of caster sugar
• About 20 Anzac biscuits
• 80g unsalted butter
• Ice-cream, cream or custard to serve (not necessary but very nice)

* Because the apples and pears are softened, you don’t have to peel them. You can peel these if you like but I left them on because there is a lot of goodness in apple and pear peels. It wasn’t because I was being lazy, swear!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C fan forced.

2. Grease a 2L casserole dish.

3. In a large saucepan, add water, sugar and fruit and stir.

4. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes or until just soft.

5. While that is simmering, crush your Anzac biscuits. I did mine in a food processor.

6. You need to rub your butter into the crushed Anzac biscuits. I grate my butter whenever I need to “rub” it into something so I did that.

7. Sprinkle Anzac biscuit crumbs and butter mix over fruit.

8. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes until crispy.

9. Serve with custard, ice cream, or cream. I ate mine with custard but after the kids went to bed I had a second bowl with chocolate ice cream and I’d also highly recommend that!

That’s all for me this week. I hope you have a nice day with your family today. Until next week, stay fresh, buy fresh, eat fresh, be fresh.

What’s your favourite slow cooker recipe? Do you have any Pressure Cooker recipes to inspire me to use mine?

Now, at the age of 29, the major lesson I take away from this absolute classic film, is a direct correlation between playing the glad game and breaking ones back.

However, I’ve decided to live life dangerously (I should get some biker boots, such is my devil-may-care attitude) and share with you some of my recent Pollyanna moments.

About to get up after laying in bed for over an hour, unable to sleep. Have decided to get up and go and crochet. As you do. Just before my feet hit the floor, Oscar begins his nightly routine of bashing the crap out of my walls.

He does this often enough, that Pal rigged up a padded wall in Osky’s favourite self harm corner.

Pollyanna moment #1: thank goodness we aren’t renting.

After realizing that there isn’t a hope in hell Oscar is going back to sleep on his own, I stand up and go and retrieve him from his corner rocking in his padded cell.

At that point, I remember how tired I truly am.

Pollyanna moment #2: no burning the midnight oil.

Co-sleeping, more the result of accidental parenting than a conscience decision. Resulting in practically no sleep for the lucky parent Oscar decides is his pillow for the night.

And even less sleep for the parent he decides to practice his Mixed Martial Arts on.

Pollyanna moment #3: no money wasted on sleep noise machines.

Oscar’s range of snores, wheezes and spluttering perfectly mimic the sound of the ocean, the scraping of chairs across wooden floors and also big city traffic.

Oscar being sick – possibly not much to find to be glad about here. But, seeing as I have committed to this glad game business…

Pollyanna Moment #4: hot water bottle unnecessary. As is personal space, apparently.

I was suspicious when the Two were so quiet so soon after being put down for their afternoon sleep yesterday – but gave them the benefit of the doubt after a big morning out of the house.

Turns out, the boys have found some kind of magical permanent texta, drawn all over the walls, the floor, the beds and themselves.

It’s magical because despite a full search of the bedroom, I can not find the offensive stationary. I am seriously considering pat downs, à la arresting officer, before bedtime.

This week, I’d love it if you joined in with me and played the glad game. I’ll be instagramming, facebooking and tweeting my Pollyanna moments throughout the week, with the hashtag: #gameofglad – what are you glad for this morning?

Has anybody else noticed that winter is here? The mornings here at ProFruit HQ are particularly chilly though thankfully it warms to an acceptable temperature by 9am, when it’s not raining. I’m terrible in winter. I despise it. While I can enjoy autumn, as we near winter I count down to spring. Give me shorts and a tee shirt over layers of clothing any day. The only good thing about winter are the mandarins. And the snuggling in bed. With hot chocolate. There must be a hot drink consumed.

Despite the cooler weather, I’ve been inspired by Miss Daisy so we’ve been doing our fair share of walking lately. My children are always happy to be outside in the fresh air so this has pleased them to no end!

Being outside seems to lift all of our moods but I think the girls have cottoned on that a walk will usually end in a visit to the local park so you can imagine their excitement. I quickly learnt that even after my kids tire themselves out on the play equipment, they still require a little bit of bribery motivation to get them into the pram tantrum free so we can go home. These babies have worked a treat this week..

Apricot, Banana and Date Oat Bars

These are all sots of yum. Mr P loves when I make these for the girls so he eats more than his fair share! These are quite filling because of the oats so a little goes a long way.

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup of dried dates
• 1/4 cup of dried apricots
• 3 cups of traditional rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1&1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C fan forced. Line a slice pan/smallish dish with baking paper (the bigger the pan/dish, the thinner the bars will be).

2. Put your dates and apricots into a food processor and blitz until chopped finely.

3. Mash banana until smoothish.

4. Add oats, dates, apricots, cinnamon and vanilla and mix well.

5. Spoon into pan or dish and using the bottom of a cup, press down evenly and firmly into pan/dish.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden. Cool and cut into bars.

These are so simple to make and because the apricots and dates bring the sweetness, there’s no added sugar. As an added bonus, because there’s no chocolate or honey, little fingers aren’t sticky after eating them. That’s what I call a win win!

That’s all from me this week. I hope you all have a great weekend and until next week, stay fresh, buy fresh, eat fresh, be fresh.

What’s your season? What’s your favourite thing to do in winter? Are your kids as OBSESSED with swings like my two? What tactics do you use to minimise the chance of a tantrum when it’s time to leave the park/fun activity?