Blog - Page 13 of 19 - The Kiwi Country Girl

Simple Mushroom Pasta with Garlic, Herb & Butter Sauce

May 9, 2016 By Laura 3 Comments

Super speedy simple mushroom pasta with garlic, herb & butter sauce - a perfect throw together meal, ready in 20 minutes!

The first weekend in May is opening weekend for duck shooting which in our house, is Josh's equivalent of Christmas. His friends all come out on the Friday night, they are so excited they can barely sleep and then are up before the crack of dawn down at the dam where I then don't see them for the rest of the weekend.

Except when they want food.

They were even planning on staying down at the mai mai (duck shooting hut that Josh built on the dam) so I had my own wild night planned. You know...painting my nails, comfy pants, wine and Friends re-runs. Epic night in.

And then at 8.30pm they came home. And wanted food. Thank goodness for this lifesaver. [Read more...]

Autumn Harvest Roast Vege Salad with Orange & Maple Dressing

May 5, 2016 By Laura 10 Comments

The perfect meal for the cooler weather - an autumn harvest roast vege salad with pumpkin, beets, feta, pinenuts & an epic maple orange dressing.

Guysssss guess what?? We have booked our honeymoon! YAY! We fly to Houston, Texas in June for 3 whole weeks! I'm SO excited! We're going to hire a car and do a ton of driving...it's going to be awesome! And hot. But mostly awesome. So if anyone has any suggestions of things to do in the Texas/New Orleans/southern states sort of area, let me know!

Knowing we are going to have a 3 week summer soon has made the transition to autumn a whole heap easier and I think a more appropriate name for this would be "we have officially let go of summer and embraced everything that is autumn with this salad salad"

Because that is totally what happened.

Well, sort of. This pumpkin was actually destined for soup. Pumpkiny, maybe a little bit of spice and some coconut creaminess if we're ok with that and can be on board with me adding coconut milk/cream to everything I eat at the moment? Yes? 😀 Except that it was super summery and hot over the weekend so I really didn't want to make soup. So I went and raided what is left of my garden, found some beets, spinach leaves, one of the pumpkins from the shed and made a perfectly autumn actual legitimate harvest salad. With things I GREW!! From seeds!!! [Read more...]

Apple Crumble

May 2, 2016 By Laura 15 Comments

This is simply the best healthy apple crumble recipe! It's easy to make and is made healthier with oats and only a small amount of sugar in the topping!

Oaty, nutty apple crumble - the perfect autumn dessert...um, or breakfast!

I have to tell you, I was ready to pull out my woolly socks, make soup and get cozy on the couch. But then we had 2 GORGEOUS summery feeling days in a row...over the weekend! YAY!

So sorry, soups and socks will be making an appearance at a much later date.

But I am ready to start easing my way into autumn foody goodness, starting with all the apple things. We have an apple tree that we planted in spring but right now, it's teeny. Not even big enough to support the weight of a single apple let alone provide me with enough apples to satisfy my autumn apple cravings. But luckily for me, I picked a gigantic bag FULL of apples from our neighbour Jamie's tree that is pretty much ground level with the weight of all the apples covering it. Short person win! I have so many apples. So even though it's super sunny and warm and we had the FAN on last night, I've compromised.

[Read more...]

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas

April 29, 2016 By Laura 11 Comments

Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce - the perfect fuss free, delicious Mexican dinner!

Friday!! We've nearly made it through another week, YAY!

Now put on the TV, make yourself a margarita and let dinner (almost) take care of itself. It's the return of the lazy girl with slow cooker chicken enchiladas!! Now is when we go back to that perfect little 5 minute blender enchilada sauce that you all made and turn it into a meal!

Chicken + enchilada sauce, into the slow cooker for a couple of hours. Shred it up, roll up the enchiladas, top with grated cheese and bake. This is a meal you want in your life. Fast, easy and super tasty! [Read more...]

5 minute Blender Enchilada Sauce

April 26, 2016 By Laura 5 Comments

This homemade Enchilada Sauce makes dinner time a breeze! Made in the blender, in 5 minutes, it's almost as quick as opening a jar of sauce!

You know what's hard? Mondays. Duh. But you know what's harder? Tuesday after a long weekend! 3 whole days just pottering around at home, in the kitchen, playing with the puppy and just being pretty relaxed about life. I'm pretty sure I still did the same amount of stuff I would normally do in a weekend but slower. Which is how it should be!

At least it's also now a short week so let's do this!!

And by this, I mean throw a bunch of Mexican looking ingredients into a blender and call it enchilada sauce.

Remember how I was only using my blender for smoothies for so long and suddenly now I've opened my eyes to the possibilities. Aaaaand we're on a roll - blender this, blender that, all in the hopes of becoming the ultimate lazy girl. We tell people we are "efficient" but in all reality it's the pure laziness that is deep within everyone. Don't deny it. Even people who live on farms and get up at the crack of dawn. You can't tell me you know ANYONE that would turn down this 5 minute blender edition of your favourite enchilada sauce in favour of at least 20 minutes slicing and dicing and sauteeing and simmering.

No way friends, we are lazy girls. [Read more...]

Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins

April 22, 2016 By Laura

The easiest muffins in the world - 5 minutes prep and a blender is all it takes to make these chocolate banana blender muffins! They're refined sugar free and perfect for baking with kids!

You might remember that back in January I took part in a 30 day green smoothie challenge - which btw I would recommend to anyone to do...you'll feel SO good! Anyway it was during this time (of course) that my trusty blender of 7 years decided to give up the ghost. I went back and forth trying to decide if I was going to buy a replacement blender or go with what EVERYONE told me to do and buy a little nutri-bullet type thing.

I totally did not give into peer pressure and decided that I actually use a blender for more than just smoothies so I went for it and bought a replacement regular blender. Since then, naturally I've only used it for smoothies {face palm} Until last weekend when I suddenly decided to use my blender for everything! YAY!

Starting with breakfast food. Actual breakfast food. Sometimes I say it's breakfast food and you have to kind of take it with a grain of salt bc hi, I eat chocolate for breakfast. But these muffins. Actual 100% healthy breakfast food. [Read more...]

Anzac Biscuits

April 19, 2016 By Laura 19 Comments

Chewy, sweet, golden oaty Anzac biscuits - a celebration of our soldiers and a home baked Kiwi classic!

Anzac Day, Anzac Day, Anzac Day!

It's been exactly 21 days since the last long weekend and I am so ready for this one!

Anzac Day is one of the really great New Zealand public holidays. It marks the anniversary of the day that the ANZAC troops (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) landed on the beach in Gallipoli during WWI and it is a day of remembrance for our troops, past and present, that fight for our little country with the big guys. If I could bake them all biscuits, I would.

Because I'm a curious George, I did a bit of looking into what these biscuits actually have to do with Anzac Day and why they are called Anzac biscuits. It turns out that they weren't actually eaten on the front line but they were one of the different types of home baking made and sold at bake sales around NZ to raise money for the war efforts! The first time they were mentioned in a cookbook was in 1921 so these are pretty much the epitome of a Kiwi classic. [Read more...]

Meet Sage

April 13, 2016 By Laura 6 Comments

Guess what? We have a puppy!! This is definitely old news if you've been following for a while, but considering that the little rascal is most definitely a part of our farm family now, I think she deserves a proper introduction.

So friends, meet our little girl Sage!!

Sage is ¾ black labrador, ¼ border collie. Her dad is a chocolate lab and her mum is a ½ black lab, ½ border collie, the pets of friends of ours who live out here, not too far from us. [Read more...]

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

April 11, 2016 By Laura 6 Comments

The world's greatest combination and the holy grail of homemade candy - homemade peanut butter cups!

You wouldn't usually catch me saying this but I am glad it's Monday! I've had 1 busy weekend, which started with me having to be a solo puppy parent and take Sage to the vet by myself for her 12 week jabs...our vet is a 40 minute drive away {cue horror movie music}

Keeping in mind this is a food blog (not a dog blog??) I'll spare you the details but let's just say our poor little pup didn't travel too well, leaving me on the side of the road (twice) running late for our appointment and running out of ways to clean up the mess. It was sorta stressful. The sorta stressful that left me needing a bucket sized glass of wine. And made me feel like I had an actual child. Seriously. Lucky for me, our vet is by the beach so once Sage was vaccinated we went for a run down by the water. And by run I mean walk. And by that I aaaactually mean we kinda just chilled. But it was nice! And then she slept the whole way home which was cute. And quiet {clapping hands emoji}

So once I had sat on the couch all night with a beer and a bowl full of curried vegetable noodle deliciousness and watched a cutesy Hugh Grant movie, by Sunday morning I was ready to take on something else. And this time it was not stressful or gross and didn't make me seriously re-think my desire to have at least 4 human babies. [Read more...]

Pizza Bread

April 8, 2016 By Laura 3 Comments

Thick and chewy pizza bread made with homemade pizza dough and all your favourite toppings!

So I think we have established that we all like pizza right? And now that you have all mastered the homemade pizza dough let's do something with it and turn it into pizza bread!

As much as I love a good thin crusted piece of pizza, sometimes those floppy, cheesy slices are just not appropriate for the situation. Mainly when the situation involves Josh driving his truck and eating lunch on the go. For situations like this, we use pizza bread!

The only real difference between regular pizza and pizza bread is that the base is twice as thick. The quantity of pizza dough that this recipe makes would make either 3 or 4 pizzas, but only makes 2 pizza breads. This makes it much more doughy and is sort of like focaccia topped with pizza toppings. In other words, it's easier to hold, and easier to eat. And trust me, if you're a farmer/truck driver, the speed at which you can get food to your mouth is pretty essential. Even better, pizza bread has been given the official farmer friendly food rating! I've soooo got this wife thing sorted. [Read more...]

Homemade Pizza Dough

April 5, 2016 By Laura

A super simple recipe for the best homemade pizza dough that comes together in no time using simple pantry ingredients...pizza night will never be the same again!

A super simple recipe for the best homemade pizza dough...pizza night will never be the same again!

Today we will master a recipe that everybody needs to know how to make. Homemade pizza dough!

This is a recipe that can't really be sugar coated. It's nothing fancy, it's not beautiful or covered in salted caramel or the most delicious thing you've ever eaten (hmm, well, that's debatable) but it's one of those recipes that you NEED in your life. Because you like pizza right? Good. Let's continue.

If you like pizza - which I suspect you do because, um hi, this is a whole post talking about how great homemade pizza dough is and I'm thinking if you don't like pizza you must REALLY like me, plus I have never met anyone in my LIFE who doesn't like pizza (do you exist pizza haters?) - you need to know how to make pizza dough. There is no way around it. Store bought pizza crusts are ok, but they've got nothing on homemade. It might seem like a lot of effort in comparison to picking up a base from the supermarket but they are not hard to make. And once you've had homemade pizza crust, you will never go back.

This dough recipe makes a pizza base that is soft and chewy, just the way I like it. 6 basic ingredients and a little bit of time are all it takes. Yeast, water, flour, salt, sugar and olive oil - all things you probably have in your pantry right now! And when I say it takes time, that is mostly sitting around waiting time, which in my house means time to play with the puppy, not fold the washing and watch re-runs of Friends. Time well spent!

[Read more...]

Apple Crumble Cheesecake Bars

April 1, 2016 By Laura 12 Comments

Buttery, spiced Apple Crumble Cheesecake Bars - the perfect autumn dessert and made even better drizzled with salted caramel sauce!

Oh haiiiii friends! Let me introduce you to your new autumn dessert of choice. Meet Apple Crumble Cheesecake Bars. Yes. Also known as 2 of my favourite desserts in the world mashed together. Actually, make that 3 of my favourite desserts if you put salted caramel sauce on top. Which you should.

I was originally going to call them Salted Caramel Apple Crumble Cheesecake Bars until I decided that it was too complicated and the salted caramel sauce was optional... Sometimes we make choices we are not proud of. Also, I was getting confused about what I called them when I was explaining them to Josh. I think I also put the word shortcake in there at some point. So to make it easy, Apple Crumble Cheesecake Bars. Dessert of champions.

But add salted caramel sauce. [Read more...]

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

March 29, 2016 By Laura 4 Comments

White chocolate & macadamia nut cookies...soft cookie perfection!

Did you all have a good Easter? How great are 4 day weekends! But also how much harder is it to get up on Tuesday morning for work! We mucked around at home, visited some friends, ate lots of Easter Eggs & dressed up Sage in Easter bunny ears...hehe. And then, because there wasn't already enough sweetness happening I made cookies!

These cookies have been a long time in the making. They've been one of my favourite kinds of cookies since I first had one when I was about 14. At Subway. Because does anywhere other than Subway make these cookies? Don't answer that question. [Read more...]

Banana & Blueberry Overnight Oats

March 25, 2016 By Laura 14 Comments

Banana blueberry overnight oats - the easiest breakfast in the whole wide world. Perfect for busy mornings!

Can I please get a round of applause for all the mummas out there?

Since becoming a puppy parent my mornings have totally changed. I now need to be completely ready to leave the house for work 30 minutes earlier than usual so that I can go outside and have plenty of play/snuggle time with Sage before I leave her for the day. 30 minutes doesn't sound like a lot but at 6.30am? Um, yes. I am now in the boat of needing to know exactly what I'm going to pack for my lunch and having my outfit planned in my head so that I have a couple of less things to think about. And this is me with a PUPPY!! Amen to all you mothers of little humans out there. How do you even do it??

Let me help with the breakfast situation on these busy mornings. I've heard people talking about overnight oats for a while now and I've kind of ignored them. (The oats, not the people!) I love oats for breakfast but I've been pretty happy with my granola in summer and porridge in winter game plan. Until the Sunday that I couldn't be bothered making granola and knew that I wouldn't have time on Monday morning to make porridge. So I listened to all the amazing stories about overnight oats and made my own! [Read more...]

No Churn Mint Chocolate Chip Ice-Cream

March 15, 2016 By Laura 3 Comments

Mint chocolate chip ice-cream - and no ice-cream maker needed! Perfect for the last of the summer days or for St Patrick's Day!

We have a puppy!!! Her name is Sage and she is the cutest little ball of fluff that I've ever seen in my whole life and we love her and I want to play with her allllllll the time and never go to work and leave her home by herself ever!!! And did I mention we love her?

You got all that right? Of course you did, that's why we are internet friends!! <-- nerd alert.

I won't get you all confused (as if ^ that didn't already do it) and harass you on a post about delicious food with pictures of a dog but if you want some Sage love, head on over to my Instagram! [Read more...]

February in photos

March 11, 2016 By Laura 4 Comments

Remember how last month I said I was going to just give you a photo update without the commentary? Ha! That ship has sailed. I just have waaaay too much to tell you guys!

February was a really really exciting & fun month for us. Girls weekend, puppy visits, beach time. Oh yea, and I became a WIFE!! Here's a sneak peak at what went on, but I'll do a full blow by blow post once we have the photos back from the photographer in a couple of weeks.

[Read more...]

Super Simple Spaghetti Bolognese

March 8, 2016 By Laura 13 Comments

An easy recipe for a classic - simple spaghetti bolognese, and it's a fantastic way to sneak veges into dinner! This quick weeknight dinner is a family favourite and is kid friendly! Made with ground beef/mince and only a few other pantry staples, it will become part of your regular rotation!

As much as I love trying new recipes, eating new things and tormenting Josh with the complete unknown at meal times there is something so comforting about a classic like simple spaghetti bolognese. It's something my mum made a lot when I was growing up and it's one of our go-to easy Friday or Sunday night meals. We are talking proper comforting, tastes like home, Farmer Friendly Food.

It's also something that you can make from scratch with only a teeny bit more effort required than opening a jar of bolognese sauce. If you can cook mince, you can make this...trust me!

I'll walk you through the process...ready? Go! [Read more...]

How to set up an Ice Cream Sundae Bar

March 4, 2016 By Laura 6 Comments

How to set up an ice cream sundae bar at home. Perfect for weddings, birthday parties or just because!

As I'm sure you all know by now, Josh & I got married 4 weeks ago. It was the most magical day and I can't WAIT to share some of the photos with you when we get them back from the photographer!

We did a lot of DIY and had everything that we loved. Including making our own ice cream sundae bar!

About a year and a half before the wedding I thought it would be a great idea to have an ice cream sundae bar for dessert. 6 months later I went to a friends wedding and they had one! It was a done deal...summer wedding dessert perfection. [Read more...]

BBQ Pork Strips

March 2, 2016 By Laura 6 Comments

Oven baked BBQ pork strips - the perfect addition to any late summer barbeque or quick weeknight meal.

I'm 100% in denial. It's March, which means that technically summer is over. 🙁 Lucky for me summer sticks around until March/April most of the time down under so we have another couple of months where using the BBQ as the number 1 method of cooking is still acceptable. Or longer if you are super mean like me and make Josh go out in the middle of winter to BBQ because you had a real hankering for that chargrilled flavour. Sorry Josh. [Read more...]

Sprinkles Slice & Bake Cookies

February 27, 2016 By Laura 10 Comments

These slice & bake cookies are chocka block full of sprinkles and can be made ahead, frozen and baked in a hurry!

Let’s just talk about something real quick k? The world needs more sprinkles. More colourful little sugary pieces of JOY! Because does this, or does this not make you happier than you’ve been all day??

OMG could there be more sprinkles in my life right now? I have approximately 60 million sprinkles leftover from when we had an ice-cream sundae bar at our wedding so I had to use them for something. Plus they totally make me feel like a little kid again. Hey Laura, what's do you have for a snack today? Um, sprinkles cookies. I am officially 5 years old. But they're so pretty!!! [Read more...]

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls + Dipping Sauces

February 24, 2016 By Laura 15 Comments

Fast, fresh & full of flavour, these Vietnamese style rice paper rolls with both sweet chilli and traditional dipping sauces are the perfect healthy lunch, snack or dinner option.

In case you missed it, Josh & I took a trip to Vietnam last year. We travelled from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, saw amazing sights, had my wedding dress made, met incredible people and most importantly...ate some of the best food I've ever eaten in my life. We both fell head over heels in love with the whole country. Unfortunately we can't just pop over whenever we would like so the next best thing is to bring a taste of Vietnam here.

I've been making these rice paper rolls and the 2 delicious dipping sauces that go perfectly with them for a while now. They were my first attempt at Vietnamese style food at home and are still one of my favourites. The ingredient list is minimal and once you get the hang of the rice paper they are a breeze to make. Throw in a couple of tasty dipping sauces and you have a complete and ridiculously healthy & satisfying meal. [Read more...]

Blender Iced Coffee

February 20, 2016 By Laura 6 Comments

Homemade blender iced coffee - an easy method to make delicious frappe style iced coffee at home that is the perfect treat for a hot summer's day!

One of my favourite things about summer is iced everything! Ice-cream, ice-blocks, iced coffee!! Josh is one of those weird people who only likes his coffee hot...even at the beginning of a 30 degree day. I just think there is something so much more satisfying about drinking your coffee cold.

I've been trying to crack the perfect blender iced coffee recipe for a while now. I love Starbucks Frappucinos (and have the perfect at home recipe for these) and I especially love the iced coffees from cafes...but I just KNOW they have ice-cream in them! Not that I am in any way against ice-cream for breakfast, but I wanted to find a happy medium. I had also tried recipes that involved brewing the coffee and then letting it cool in the fridge but I definitely think coffee needs to be fresh. So the other morning I looked at the last recipe I tried, saw what didn't work and then just threw a bunch of stuff into the blender. As it was blending I wasn't really sure if it was going to be quite right, but as soon as I took a sip I died and went to iced coffee heaven. Nailed it! [Read more...]

Healthy Soft Serve Banana Ice Cream

February 17, 2016 By Laura 3 Comments

Frozen bananas are all that it takes to make this creamy but healthy banana ice cream!

Let's summarise this whole post in 1 sentence.

Frozen bananas + favourite blendy kitchen appliance of choice = actual soft servy HEALTHY banana ice cream. Yaaassss!!!

This. Stuff. Is. AWESOME. Just bananas. No sugar. No dairy. No anything other than bananas. [Read more...]

Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes

February 13, 2016 By Laura 15 Comments

Small batch chocolate cupcakes - for those times you really feel like a chocolate cupcake but don't want need 12!

I'm not usually one to celebrate Valentine's Day...I kind of think it's a bit of a Hallmark holiday and that you should do nice things for each other all the time, not just on one day of the year buuuut I'm feeling a little extra loved up this year. May have something to do with the fact that this time last week I was getting ready to get married!

I'll go into the whole amazingness that was our wedding day later when we have our photos back but for now, let's talk chocolate cupcakes of the small batch variety! [Read more...]