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DIY Ruler Growth Chart

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A step by step tutorial to show you how to make your own DIY Ruler Growth Chart, that can move with you from house to house! No more writing on the door frame!

Toddler bedroom with bookshelf and DIY ruler growth chart on wall

Do you remember how exciting it was as a kid when it came time to see how much you had grown? As a lifelong shorty I would hang out to see where I was on the chart because any extra height I could get was a huge deal! Like most families, we marked our height on the door frame, and when my parents moved out of our childhood home, that was left behind. I'm definitely not sentimental about it but it did make me think that it would be nice to have a height chart for Sadie (and future kids) that can move with us when that happens.

There are plenty of options to buy some pretty amazing wooden growth charts but they can come with a hefty price tag, so rather than shell out close to $100 for one, I decided to spend around $30 and make one! [Read more...]

Easy Butter Chicken Recipe

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Have you always wanted to know how to make Indian butter chicken at home? Well now you can with my super easy Butter Chicken recipe. Ready in 30 minutes, and delicious served on white rice with garlic naan on the side. Plus, prepare the spice mix in advance and it's even quicker!

Overhead shot of white bowl with butter chicken and rice with bowl of white rice, naan bread and blue tea towel in background

You know that amazing feeling at the end of a long week, when you are sitting at home on the couch with the whole weekend ahead of you and the biggest decision you are faced with is what to order in for dinner? Well, when you live in the middle of nowhere with no possibility of having any sort of takeout delivered, you've gotta get a bit creative. Because we miss the luxury of takeaways on a Friday night, I'm slowly working my way through the list of our favourite takeout meals and recreating them at home. It's not quite the same, but that's what you get for living in the boonies!

This is my version of the Indian takeaway classic, and one of our favourites -  butter chicken. You are going to LOVE it!! While it may not be totally authentic, it's a super simplified recipe and is so quick to make! And both Josh & I think it's as good as any we've had from an Indian place and so much better than any sauce that comes from a jar. There is no marinating involved - mostly because I always get mad when I'm frantically looking for inspiration at 5...ok 6pm and come across a recipe that looks perfect except that I needed to start it 4 hours ago.

[Read more...]

Spinach Blueberry Smoothie {Toddler Approved)

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A 5 minute recipe for a healthy and delicious spinach blueberry smoothie packed with superfood ingredients that is toddler approved!

Spinach blueberry smoothie in a glass with metal straw with spinach leaves and blueberries in background

It took me 5 minutes to make this spinach blueberry smoothie, 10 minutes to take photos of it and 2 minutes to drink it. And then I spent close to an hour stuck on writing this post and trying to figure out how to sell you on this epic spinach blueberry smoothie.

Do I list the health benefits of the powerhouse ingredients? Do I tell you that you won't even notice there is spinach in it? (You won't) Or do I go for the obvious quick, easy and nutritious breakfast/snack angle. And then I realised that I could write one sentence and you would be running for the blender faster than you can say green smoothie.

My one year old will drink this.

The end.

But actually. So if you like the idea of green smoothies for your kids (or for you) but the thought of an actual green coloured drink doesn't appeal, let's talk. [Read more...]

Chicken Burrito Bowls with Cilantro Yoghurt Dressing

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These super easy, 30 minute Chicken Burrito Bowls with Cilantro Yoghurt Dressing are healthy, colourful and packed full of flavour! Perfect for a lazy dinner or meal prep for lunches!

Chicken burrito bowl with a fork on a white background and salad in the background

This is the part where you guys say "um, Laura, burrito bowls are sooooo 2015" and the part where I reply "yes I know I'm extremely late to the party as per usual but guuuys!!!"

You need these Chicken Burrito Bowls in your life, today and tomorrow and probably 3 times this week for dinner because they will be the best thing you've eaten in ages. Well, at least since those blondies last week. And not to mention they are so quick and easy you won't actually believe it. But mostly because the chicken in these bowls that is generously coated in my favourite Homemade Burrito Spice Mix is out of this world! And did I mention the dressing? All the drooly and heart eyed emojis.

Mexican chicken slices on a salad

I don't know about you guys but I'm always a little bit skeptical about recipes that claim they are 30 minute meals. Because do you mean 30 minutes if I'm a trained professional in a shiny stainless steel commercial kitchen with a helper (NOT a toddler "helper") and all of my ingredients prepped and ready for me and also someone reading the recipe to me as I make it, or 30 minutes in my real life kitchen with said toddler hanging off my leg at 5pm HANGRY and nothing ready to go with just a few boring things in the fridge looking out at me as I search for inspiration like "what are you looking at??" [Read more...]

Raspberry and White Chocolate Blondies

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These easy raspberry and white chocolate blondies with coconut will become a new favourite recipe for your family. Chewy, fudgy blondies studded with tart raspberries, white chocolate chips and coconut!

16 squares of blondie on a white background

Do you know what kind of recipes are my favourite kind? The ones that are ready in under an hour, made in 1 bowl and taste good enough that they would be right at home in a fancy bakery. These raspberry and white chocolate blondies with coconut are EXACTLY that!

But first up, what is a blondie?

Simple! A blondie is pretty much the blonde version of a brownie. It's the vanilla to brownie's chocolate! The main difference between a brownie and a blondie is that instead of cocoa powder, there is just vanilla and brown sugar. It's almost like a butterscotch brownie!

They have the same crispy top, the same fudgy and chewy centre, a pretty similar list of basic ingredients and the exact same ability to coerce you into eating way too many pieces in one sitting!

[Read more...]

Healthy Banana Oatmeal Muffins (Blender Recipe)

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Healthy Banana Oatmeal Muffins made in the blender! These sugar free healthy banana muffins are perfect for breakfast on the go and for babies & toddlers! 5 minutes prep time, so easy and delicious!

Bowl of mini banana oatmeal muffins with blue striped tea towel

Something terrible has happened. My baby is ONE!!! Somehow, 1 whole year has just completely disappeared and my squishy little newborn is now a proper little person and not a baby anymore (cue tears streaming down my face)

Ok so that was a little dramatic. It's not terrible - she had to turn 1 eventually. I just can't believe how fast it has come around! And actually, this age is amazing. Sadie is understanding us, using more words (we finally got Mama yesterday!!) and is such a little character. Way more interesting than the little squish that she was a year ago. But still...where has my baby gone?!!!

So way back when she was a teeny tiny little thing and wasn't even eating food I decided that I would hold off giving her sugar until she was 1. Mostly because she's my first child. Clearly, this isn't going to be a long term thing because 1. I don't want her to hate me and 2. I love cupcakes so there's probably only so long I can sneakily eat them without her finding out. So age 1 seemed like a really long time away and she would be such a big kid by then that she could definitely have cake on her birthday. [Read more...]

Homemade Squiggles Biscuits

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Homemade Squiggles Biscuits! Let me show you how to make a Kiwi classic, the Hokey Pokey Squiggles biscuit at home! Crispy cookie base topped with hokey pokey buttercream, hokey pokey pieces, covered in chocolate and squiggled on!

Stack of homemade hokey pokey squiggles biscuits on a white marble background

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting The Kiwi Country Girl.

I just KNOW you guys are going to be as excited about these homemade squiggles biscuits as I am! A few weeks back I asked on my Facebook page which store bought biscuit you wanted me to try and recreate next after how much you all loved Homemade 100's & 1000's Biscuits and Homemade Mint Slices. I was so happy when people asked for Hokey Pokey Squiggles!

If you're not from New Zealand you probably have never heard of these, so let me tell you a little bit about them. I don't buy a lot of biscuits but if I do, squiggles are pretty much the top contender for the spot in the trolley. So when I set out to make them at home, I knew I wouldn't stop until they were just right. Hokey Pokey Squiggles are a plain biscuit (sugar cookie) topped with hokey pokey buttercream, crushed hokey pokey pieces, covered in a milk chocolate shell and topped with a yellow white chocolate squiggle! Even if you're not familiar with them, you will still LOVE these cookies. They're pretty awesome. And so fun! [Read more...]

DIY Reusable Produce Bags

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A quick tutorial for DIY Reusable Produce Bags. How to make them, what material to use and simple instructions for a great way to use less plastic bags and reduce waste in your home!

Reusable produce bags with apples mandarins and peppers

Where do you sit on the waste free living scale? Do you recycle your milk bottles? Do you compost? Do you just throw everything in the rubbish? Or are you like me and own ALL the reusable supermarket bags because leave them in your car so that you're prepared and still forget to actually take them into the supermarket so end up buying more at the checkout?

I've definitely got much better - especially now that a couple of our big supermarkets are planning on getting rid of single use plastic bags....yay! But one thing that isn't quite so easy to get your hands on is reusable produce bags. There are more places now that sell them but I figured, why not make some! [Read more...]

Feijoa Crumble Slice

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This Feijoa Crumble Slice is the perfect way to celebrate feijoa season! It's a quick easy slice with an oaty base, feijoa filling and a crumble topping that's perfect served as a warm dessert or as a lunchbox snack!

Feijoa crumble slice cut into pieces on a white marble background

So, I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but the last few days here have felt like we skipped autumn and jumped straight into winter. Not kidding, we went from having the fan on one night, to the heater on in the hallway the next! It literally got freezing overnight! It seems to have eased a bit now but it really has me dreading winter. Over summer I actually forget what it's like to be cold and that little icy blast has me searching for mid-winter flights to tropical locations.

Luckily, now that autumn seems to have returned (for now) I am happy to embrace it, and what better way than with a cosy warm dessert that can also be served up as a lunchbox slice! This Feijoa Crumble Slice is autumn perfection, and is a great way to use up all the tiny feijoas that are too small for bottling. Or eating! [Read more...]

Life with Sadie - 9-10 months

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Life with Sadie - 9-10 months. What our little girl has been up to for the last couple of months - pulling up on furniture, eating sand at the beach and growing up fast!

It's taking me so long to get around to writing these posts - life with Sadie is so busy, especially now that she's on the move. I always have to keep one eye on her. So many people commented about how little you can get done with a newborn...showering, cooking dinner and general jobs but I honestly couldn't disagree more...I get WAY less done now! When she was tiny I could either wear her in the carrier and she would fall asleep, or I could leave her lying on the floor and she would still be there when I got back 15 minutes later. Not in the bathroom with her hands in the toilet, or in our bedroom putting my phone charging cord in her mouth, or outside letting the dog who actually rolls in poop rub up all against her...you get it. She's trouble!

[Read more...]

Granny's Zucchini Bread Recipe

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My Granny's easy zucchini bread recipe - the only zucchini bread I will ever make! Crunchy on the outside with a super tender crumb and flavour that is out of this world, you won't ever need another zucchini bread recipe!

Three slices of zucchini bread in a stack on a white background

Sometimes I get super freaked out about how conversations I have in my mind seem to occur at almost the exact same moment with my sisters. Over the last couple of months I've started collecting the recipes from my Granny that I love, thinking that it would be a great idea to get them all up on the blog so that our family has them all in one place. Then the other day, my youngest sister (hey, Claire!) who is at university in Dunedin messaged me asking if I had a recipe for one of Granny's desserts that she used to make for our birthdays. I didn't have that one, so Claire then suggested that maybe we should get all of her recipes, plus my other Grandma's and make a collection of them. Ding!

We've decided that it will be our summer project when she is home but until then, I just HAD to share this one for Granny's zucchini bread. Mostly because we are still working our way through an outrageous amount of zucchini this year. I've frozen some too, so that I can make this zucchini bread all year!

[Read more...]

Sheet Pan Sausage & Veggies with Satay Sauce

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Sheet Pan Sausage & Veggies with Satay Sauce - a quick, easy and super tasty sheet pan dinner with colourful veggies, tasty sausages and a killer satay sauce! Great for weeknights and meal prep.

Sheet pan dinner with sausages and vegetables

Out of all the things I cook and we eat THIS is our favourite. Ok...one of our favourites up there with Spaghetti Bolognese & anything Mexican. But we probably eat this Sheet Pan Sausage & Veggies with Satay Sauce once a week. Why? It's so super quick and easy!!

This sheet pan dinner has it all - flavourful sausages, colourful veggies and an epic sauce. Plus, dinner is on the table in 45 minutes of which 30 minutes is waiting for it to cook in the oven. Hands free! That's what I call a weeknight meal. And if you're out all day, you can even cut up the sausages & veggies in the morning and keep them in the fridge until you're ready to cook them.  [Read more...]

My Favourite Carrot Cake Recipe

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My all time favourite Carrot Cake recipe - loaded with grated carrot, crushed pineapple, crunchy walnuts and smothered in cream cheese frosting, this will become your favourite carrot cake recipe too!

Double layer carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on a white cake stand on white marble background

Hands up if you love carrot cake?! Carrot cake seems to be synonymous with Easter and spring, but there's just one problem with that. Down under it's autumn! And while I can make up the connection with carrot cake and Easter (Easter bunnies eat carrots I guess?) the spring thing has me thrown. If you ask me, carrot cake with all the cosy warm spicy flavours just screams autumn to me, which actually works out much better! [Read more...]

Our Easter Brunch Menu

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Here is your Easter Brunch Menu inspiration! Tips for hosting an Easter Brunch as well as what we are having, plus all recipes!

Here is your Easter Brunch Menu inspiration! Tips for hosting an Easter Brunch as well as what we are having plus all recipes! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

It's nearly Easter! I have not been this excited about Easter since I was a kid. Christmas gets me every time but Easter doesn't quite have the same build up or excitement for me...until now! Because clearly in my world, having a kid makes everything more exciting! I mean, she's not even walking and I have little egg shaped maracas to hide in the garden for her so that we can have an Easter egg hunt but so that I can still hold onto the "no sugar until she's one" ideal. Come on, she's my first kid! [Read more...]

15 Minute Ham, Cheese & Tomato Croissants

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The easiest and tastiest 15 Minute Ham, Cheese & Tomato Croissants - they come together and are ready to eat in only 15 minutes! Perfect for Easter brunch or just any old weekend breakfast!

The easiest and tastiest 15 Minute Ham, Cheese & Tomato Croissants - they come together and are ready to eat in only 15 minutes! Perfect for Easter brunch or just any old weekend breakfast! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

Popping in with a super quick and easy Easter brunch idea for you today! I'm definitely not going to go as far as calling this a recipe - think of it as more inspiration!

These Ham, Cheese & Tomato Croissants are one of our favourite things to eat for weekend breakfasts. Now that our mornings revolve around feeding, changing and entertaining Sadie we are much shorter on time to put together fancy brunch in the weekends. The best thing about these is that they take 5 minutes prep work and 10 minutes cook time so they can be made, eaten and cleaned up all while Sadie takes her morning nap. Perfect! [Read more...]

Homemade Burrito Spice Mix (Taco Seasoning)

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Homemade Burrito Spice Mix (or taco seasoning) – the perfect blend of spices to make your favourite Mexican meal in minutes! Ideal for beef burritos, nachos, chicken strips for tacos, refried beans or anything Mexican!

This post was originally published in July 2015 - it has been retested, rephotographed, rewritten, and republished (to make it better for you!) in March 2018. I've also made labels for you to put on your spice mix jars - download the free PDF here

Homemade Burrito Spice Mix (or taco seasoning) - the perfect blend of spices to make your favourite Mexican meal in minutes! Perfect for beef burritos, nachos, chicken strips for tacos, refried beans or anything Mexican! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

This shouldn't come as a surprise to you (um, hi - I have a food blog), but I love to cook. The thing is though, cooking is something that didn't come naturally to me. I've always been a good baker but cooking has taken some practice. I think it's because I'm a methodical, rule follower type - the specifics of baking are my jam, but throwing ingredients into a pan and making an amazing meal - not so much. But way back in 2015 something changed for me when I discovered herbs and spices! I know (insert eye roll here) they've been around forever, but learning about and understanding what herbs and spices go together and with other ingredients changed my life!

[Read more...]

Hot Cross Bun Cinnamon Rolls

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Hot Cross Bun Cinnamon Rolls! The perfect combination of delicious cinnamon rolls with all the spices and dried fruit that you love about hot cross buns! A must have for Easter brunch.

Hot Cross Bun Cinnamon Rolls! The perfect combination of delicious cinnamon rolls with all the spices and dried fruit that you love about hot cross buns! A must have for Easter brunch | thekiwicountrygirl.com

Ok, how is it almost Easter already? Wasn't it just Christmas?? Anyway, I'm pretty excited about Easter this year. Like Christmas, it's one of those holidays that suddenly becomes more magical when you have a kid. Even though said kid is not allowed to eat chocolate this Easter. C'mon, she's my first baby...I'm allowed to be strict!

Unfortunately for her, she's also not allowed these Hot Cross Bun Cinnamon Rolls. Bad luck Sadie, because these babies are for sure the best bread related recipe to come out of my kitchen, definitely this year, maybe even ever. I love my regular cinnamon rolls - which, by the way I have just updated the baking time to LESS...less is more as I have learnt this time around. Normally I would go for 20-25 minutes baking time for my rolls, covering them in tinfoil after 12 minutes or so to stop them from going too brown. No more!! 15 minutes baking time. The end. As soon as those tops start looking a little bit golden brown, whip them out of the oven and they will be the soft pillowy, spicy sugary rolls of your dreams (just mine?) [Read more...]

My Favourite Easy Lasagne Recipe (step by step)

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My favourite easy lasagne recipe - step by step photos and instructions to help you make the perfect lasagne and impress your dinner guests! It's a family favourite!

My favourite easy lasagne recipe - step by step photos and instructions to help you make the perfect lasagne and impress your dinner guests! It's a family favourite! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

There is no denying it...lasagne is definitely not a quick meal. Even my favourite easy lasagne recipe is a labour of love, but it's one of those meals that when I have taken the time to make it and Josh walks in at the end of a long day, it makes me feel like I am winning at the wife game. Especially when there is garlic bread too.

Lasagne is one of those recipes that everyone has their own take on. The classic "my mum makes the best lasagne" trick. The cool thing is, I am someones mum now so when I'm eating this I imagine Sadie telling all her baby friends that her mum makes the best lasagne...ha! She doesn't even eat it yet. But what I'm saying is, make this recipe and then alter it as you please so that it becomes YOUR lasagne! I have to admit, I really just use this recipe as a rough guide. When it comes to cooking I barely ever measure anything out and I usually always make it slightly different. But if I was to measure and be precise, this recipe is how I would do it. [Read more...]

Tutorial: Simple baby change mat

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How to make a simple baby change mat - if you can sew a straight line, you can make this portable baby change mat - perfect for in the nappy/diaper bag or as a baby shower gift!

How to make a simple baby change mat - if you can sew a straight line, you can make this portable baby change mat - perfect for in the nappy/diaper bag or as a baby shower gift! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

Hey guys! Ready to sew today? This simple baby change mat is the perfect sewing project for beginners - honestly, if you can sew in a straight line you will have no problems whipping up one of these babies!

It's amazing what you find out you need after you have a baby. When we were preparing for Sadie's arrival, the amount of stuff I realised we would need was quite overwhelming. So I went for a simple approach - I got the absolute essentials and if I was slightly unsure about if I really needed something, I left it and figured I would get it once Sadie was here if necessary. And for the most part this strategy worked really well. There were still things we had that we never used and I definitely made a couple of panicked phone calls to friends to come to the rescue (yes, you will need newborn sized clothing even if they only wear it for a few weeks!) but mostly, we did well. [Read more...]

Life with Sadie - 7-8 Months

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Life with Sadie 7-8 months - Christmas, summer, crawling, eating and growing up way too fast! Life with Sadie gets more and more fun each day | thekiwicountrygirl.com

I thought that I would do 2 monthly updates from now on but wow, it has been an action packed 2 months!

December with Sadie was pretty much all about Christmas! Having her around made Christmas even more exciting and I went way overboard with the Christmas outfits! It was fun taking Sadie on her first trip to cut down our Christmas tree - she was more interested in the tree than the camera of course!  [Read more...]

Small Batch Caramilk Cupcakes

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Small batch Caramilk Cupcakes are the perfect way to enjoy that highly sought after Caramilk chocolate without sacrificing the whole bar!

Small batch Caramilk Cupcakes are the perfect way to enjoy that highly sought after Caramilk chocolate without sacrificing the whole bar - the recipe only makes 5 perfect Caramilk Cupcakes! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

If you live in New Zealand or Australia you will understand the current Caramilk situation. If not, let me explain. There is a type of chocolate that has invoked hype like no other in this country for quite some time. Apparently it used to be a thing (I'm too young to remember!) but last year, Cadbury reintroduced Caramilk as a limited edition bar. It went NUTS! People who remembered it took a trip down memory lane and people like me who had never heard of it got on board to see what all the fuss was about. Um, worth the fuss! [Read more...]

Homemade Frappuccino Recipe

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Your favourite coffee shop drink made at home - here's my homemade frappuccino recipe! 

Homemade Frappuccino Recipe - now you can make your favourite iced coffee drink at home! Basic espresso flavour as well as how to make 3 other flavours | thekiwicountrygirl.com

Hands up if you love iced coffee?? Yes! But hands up if you don't love shelling out $7 for one? Also yes. Oh and also kind of important...the nearest coffee shop to us is 1 hour away. Anyone else?

And if we are going into huge detail about why it is so essential to learn how to make these at home, how's this for a first world problem? Here are the locations of the only 2 Starbucks anywhere near to us.

1. Right in the middle of town where parking is a nightmare
2. On the top floor of a shopping mall.

Do you know how hard it is to get to these sorts of places with a baby??

First up - is the baby asleep? If so, forget it. No stopping. If she's awake we're doing it. So we find a park, unload the pram, load the child into the pram, walk to the coffee shop, order coffee and wait. But what's that? She needs a nappy change. Get the key...the KEY! for the toilet to change baby and by the way, there is not a chance the pram is fitting in there...my nappy bag barely fits! Change nappy, load baby back into pram, pick up coffee. Realise you've forgotten to attach the cup holder to the pram and have a face palm moment. Awkwardly push the pram one handed back to the car. Kid into the car, pram into the car, locate the coffee and the keys that both got put down somewhere in the backseat area. Get in the car and finally sip the coffee. I mean, it's delicious and kind of worth it, but what a MISSION!  [Read more...]

Easy Healthy Homemade Granola

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Healthy homemade granola - a simple recipe to make your own healthy granola from scratch. Cheap to make, delicious and fully customisable!

Healthy homemade granola - a simple recipe to make your own healthy granola from scratch. Cheap to make, delicious and fully customisable! | thekiwicountrygirl.com

Ok, so I've talked about how much I love healthy homemade granola until I'm blue in the face - clearly, I have an addiction. But it's a good one right? Breakfast food, healthy, cheap and easy to make. We're all on the same page.

But while I've shared a bunch of awesome flavour ideas, I haven't shared the easiest, healthy homemade granola recipe that I actually make all the time. The flavours are fun for when I am a little bored of "normal" granola (um, actually never) but at any given time you could walk into my house and there would be a jar of this granola in the cupboard.

[Read more...]