chocolate & beetroot cupcakes

Do you need a bit of lunchbox inspiration? 

Here's a little recipe for chocolate and beetroot cupcakes I knocked up this morning! I've added this to the Thermomix in Australia recipe community. 

If you don't have a Thermomix you can use a food processor or a hand blender but you'd need to finely grate the beetroot.

Chocolate & Beetroot Cupcakes

Ingredients

150 grams Fresh Beetroot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
70 grams brown sugar
100 grams Butter, melted
150 grams Self Raising Flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
2 tablespoons good quality cocoa, or cacao powder

Method 
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease three mini cupcake trays if you aren't using greaseproof trays.
2. Put the beetroot in mixing bowl and chop for 10 secs/sp 7.
3. Add eggs, milk, sugar and butter to TM bowl and mix with beetroot for 10 secs/sp 5
4.Add the flour, cinnamon and cocoa and mix 5 secs/sp 4. If needed, scrape down the bowl and mix for a further 3 secs/sp 7.
5. Using a teaspoon to spoon mixture into muffin tray. Bake for 11 minutes.

Tips
* I use a silicone mini muffin tray for these cupcakes that way I don't need to grease the tray.
* I use Van Houten cocoa. You can find it in supermarkets.
* I'm freezing these in batches to be thawed the night before.

Miss May Blossom
http://www.facebook.com/MissMayBlossom

preparing for the school year

Do you need a bit of lunchbox inspiration? When mentioning that our eldest is starting school this year I'm met with comments about how hectic it will be (especially juggling, work, preschool and a new mid year). I have a little insight as I have taught Kindergarten classes for five years but I'm certain I don't know it all! The other comment that has been made consistently is that getting lunches organised five mornings a week can be a challenge.

I've decided to get in early and yesterday I baked and froze 60 mini banana and carrot (added sultanas) mini muffins (ready to be thawed the night before). I also sliced enough ham-off-the-bone and froze it in portions for a number of weeks.

 
Do you have tips for preparing for the school year and lunches? I'd LOVE to hear from you!!! You can also join the discussion on my Facebook page!

Miss May Blossom
http://www.facebook.com/MissMayBlossom

Happy New Year!

Apologies for my absence these last weeks.

December is madness for us. As I've mentioned both of our children celebrate their birthdays in December and the lead-up to Christmas and end-of-year commitments means it's a busy time. That coupled with expecting our third baby has meant I haven't had a chance to give my blog much of my time.

I hope you've all managed to have a bit of time off from work or, at the very least, a moment to put your feet up!

We had Christmas with friends and family (and some strangers) in Sydney this year. We celebrated Christmas Eve and Boxing Day with friends of ours. They were both really fun occasions with great food! We attended an outreach event on Christmas Day which culminated in a banquet for disadvantaged and homeless people. There were also many people like us (families looking 'outward' at Christmas time) in attendance. It was humbling to say the least.

We've just returned after three weeks out of Sydney beginning with a stay on a huge sheep station owned by friends on the Monaro. We have four kids between us and the kids rode bikes, played Lego, rode the pony, walked through the property, played with the dogs and swam in a blow-up pool while we adults chatted and cooked and relaxed under the big trees.

For ten days we wound down on our farm between Tathra and Bermagui on the Far South Coast. The property houses a shed with basic amenities and there's always plenty to do. J got his 'fix' - slashing the paddocks, tending to trees and removing weedy plants. I read and relaxed and cooked. A couple of our neighbours shared their incredible produce with us - cucumbers, zucchinis, limes, basil in abundance, plums, onions and garlic. I made a big batch of pesto concentrate (basil + garlic + olive oil) to chip off for meals which is in the freezer.

We were also able to harvest peaches from our orchard before the flying foxes get them and I'm doing what I can to ripen them. Unfortunately, though, we had to leave the produce on our fruit-laden fig tree!

The beaches were empty and beautiful and the weather was glorious, though bunkering down, listening to the pouring rain on the corrugated iron roof can be beautiful too.We also saw four red-belly black snakes and a tiger snake (which had been run over and was in agony before we put it out of its misery.)

We caught up with many old and new friends, people we went to school with and their families. It was a good balance between socialising and having much longed-for family time.

We finished our trip by attending a beautiful wedding at Terrara Estate, five minutes from Nowra. It was a stunning day and the bride would have been especially pleased with the smooth running of the event. We all had a lovely time!

Now we are back into the swings of things preparing for our firstborn's first year of school and our daughter's introduction to preschool. I'll be sharing plenty of tips for school lunches on my Facebook page and I'd love to hear your ideas too!

Happy New Year readers! 

Miss May Blossom

http://www.facebook.com/MissMayBlossom