Edible Sunshine Coast - Caloundra

Eating local is...
Exciting, fresh, supportive and makes you feel good too.

The Sunshine Coast where I live, is home to some very talented local producers indeed.
We have locally made products like milk, yoghurt, the best cream I have ever tried, cheese, olives and olive products, preserves, chocolate, nuts and nut products, nut pastes, tempeh, salad dressings that are to die for, olive oils, avocado oil, flavoured oils, beautiful breads, buffalo haloumi cheese, cordials, ginger and ginger products, coffees, teas, seafood, African spice and sauce blends, spices, chick pea and broad beans "chips", jams, preserves, gluten free products, pastas, gorgeous fresh fruits and vegetables, beautiful chopping boards and even natural dishwashing liquid just to name some of them!

Almost a year ago I teamed up with a very exciting and innovative supermarket, Maleny IGA to use these amazing local products and create unique recipes around them that they published on recipes cards for their customers and were also introduced through fun taste testing events in store each month which were all received with great success!

I have been delighted to further promote these recipes, what the Maleny IGA does and the EAT LOCAL movement through the Sunshine Coast Libraries and a series of Edible Sunshine Coast events where the audience hears all about local products, why it is so fantastic to eat local, how it has a ripple benefitial effect through the whole community and supports local families and jobs and all about the extensive range carried by the Maleny IGA as one of the region's greatest supporters of local businesses.
 The audience also gets to taste test some goodies and 2 of the recipes!
Like the Custard Apple Coconut Crumble served with gorgeous Maleny Dairies cream and custard brought to each demonstration by the lovely Meg! Who is a fountain of knowledge on dairy and a huge favourite with the audience!

Meg

The Custard Apple Coconut Crumble

It was wonderful seeing the audience enjoy the food
Aamongst them was the lovely Karen from Wholistic Evolution

and the Sunshine Coast's own inspirational Yummy Mummies!

 And to end on a really high note we had some lucky (and very happy) winners of some fantastic prizes like gorgeous Maleny Dairies products, a beautiful locally made Fab Slabs chopping board and the sensational Pomodora's dressings

It was a wonderful morning full of the buzz for local food,

Thanks you so much to everyone that came and to the Caloundra Library for hosting us!
At the date of posting this one there are just 2 Edible Sunshine Coast events left! Nambour and Noosa, unfortunately Noosa is fully booked out but you can leave your name in case of cancellation and still get one of the last spots at the Nambour HERE

EAT LOCAL

Rebecca x
A big thank you to:

Cooroy Fusion Festival

One of my big passions, food, combines with my love of supporting locals in the 

Edible Sunshine Coast presentations. 

These 7 presentations kicked off on Saturday with the fantastic 

Cooroy Fusion Festival
What a well crafted and put together event!
I was absolutely delighted to be a presenter and so impressed with the large crowd that drew around as I started to talk and offer some taste tests and inspiration for eating local. It wasn't long before we were surrounded by a sea of enthusiastic locals trying the Custard Apple Coconut Crumble
served with gorgeous Maleny Dairies cream and custard by special guest Meg from Maleny Dairies

http://www.malenydairies.com/
And the Haloumi Bread Salad featuring the Sunshine Coast's own award winning haloumi cheese! And not to forget the Macadamia Mustard Potato Salad
It is so wonderful to get that live feedback from your food creations as people co
me up to tell you how much they enjoyed something, to see smiling faces as they happily eat something you designed!

This little girls was soo cute as she munched away on crumble and cream!
The audience also had the fascinating Bede from Maleny Avocado Oil as a special guest pop on the microphone and chat to the audience about his amazing avocado oil and how it is a nutrient booster and how his actually has the highest smoke point of oils at 225 degrees celsius. 

Making it ideal for roasting, baking, stir frying and beautiful in a salad.
And it doesn't just stop there either! Avocado oil is great as a moisturiser and great with essential oil blends!
And did I mention this avocado oil tastes gorgeous?
I used it in the pastry for the Quinoa Pot Pies, it gave the pastry a delicious nutty flavour.

And the highlight of the demonstration for one very lucky lady was the winner of that fantastic prize pack as donated by Sunshine Coast business Nutworks; a special bottle of extra virgin cold pressed Avocado oil personally from Bede!

http://www.nutworks.com.au/

http://www.facebook.com/Nutworks.com.au

When I say everybody wanted to win this prize I'm not joking!
Thank you Nutworks!!

I even found my oldest backstage enjoying my salad!

I absolutely loved being a part of the Cooroy Fusion Festival and my girls had an absolute ball as well.

If your in the Sunshine Coast area, there is still time to book into 5 of the remaining 6 Edible Sunshine Coast presentations
( 1 is fully booked out)
Follow this link to book in to these free events and get inspired to Eat Local!
http://www.library.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/sitePage.cfm?code=edible

Come along and find out why I joined forces with local supermarket Maleny IGA to produce recipes for their unique collectible Local Product Local Recipe - recipe cards.
Grab one in store!

Rebecca  xx

Edible Christmas Gift Baskets

Are you Christmas ready?

Looking for an idea?
I LOVE a food gift basket!
Food gift baskets are such an exciting present to give at this time of year.

Everybody eats, so food gifts are practical and a delight. Plus they can be so very thoughtful and personal by tailor making to the giftee. There really is something you can buy for everyone. From a gourmet delight style, to a healthy life goodness pack, to a nutty delight, a gorgeous gluten free, a fresh fruit splendour, a bakers basket of ingredients, organic delights, a nut free/dairy free or a tasty cheese platter. So many varieties! Make your own style and make it personal to the person you are giving it too.

Here is some I did up for friends and family.

Healthy Life -Chocolate Love

Gourmet Goodies - great as a packed basket or as individual gifts

Healthy Life

Gorgeous Gluten free

These are just some of the products my family have bought for gifts and put together, we have also done:

• Choccies and Nuts
• Local Product Love
• Olives and Cheese
• Wine, cheese and crackers
• Home Staples - lovely free range eggs, raw organic honey, beautiful sourdough bread, lovely tea and coffee, jams, chutneys
• Baking Bounty - full of wonderful types of flours like spelt, rice, amaranth and baking bits and pieces like coconut sugar, stevia, honey, agave, cacao, cocoa, nuts, seeds and dried fruits, a tea towel or two, maybe some cookie cutters - this also looks gorgeous in a beautiful baking tin.
• Kids Baking Baskets - these are so much fun to put together for kids, including all the usual ingredients with some baking tools and cookie cutters and even a little apron and cookbook, makes them a real hit.
• Juicing sensations. What could be better for someone that likes a juice that a basket full of fresh, organic juicing goodies and maybe even a new juice jar, metal straw or two as well?

It really is a wonderful present giving idea and you can really use your creative flair and knowledge of the person you are buying for to create a gorgeous gift that will be sure to impress.



Rebecca x

Note:
All the pictured ideas you see here were gift baskets we designed ourselves and bought from the Maleny Supa IGA ( I was not sponsored to do this post in any way) 

Local Product Local Recipe - Maleny Supa IGA recipe cards with recipes by Author Rebecca Mugridge

I am SO excited to be creating recipes using LOCAL products for the Maleny Supa IGA Local Product Local Recipe - recipe cards.
Showcasing the amazing range produced right here on the sunshine Coast.
The feedback so far from the public has been amazing!

Did you know that you can collect the recipe cards in store at the Maleny IGA? A new one is released each week, and there is always several of them available from theire gorgeous deli counter - collect them all and have your very own Sunshine Coast Local Product, Maleny IGA, Author Rebecca Mugridge recipe card set!

Did you know my recipes come with TODDLER TIPS? As a busy mum myself I know how important it is to have recipes the whole family can easily enjoy, are appealing to kids or that can be slightly adapted for the little ones.

If your not from the area you can still get the delicious recipes online at Sunny Coast Kids or  at www.malenyiga.com.au and you can also order ingredients with them online and either go for a scenic drive and click and collect or if you on the Sunshine Coast have them delivered! Too easy.

The Maleny Supa IGA also has a fantastic labelling system in store so you can easily find locally produced products while you browse their isles, they even have gluten free labelling too.

 

 

 

 

 

Local Product Local Recipes - Maleny Supa IGA Recipe Cards

I am really REALLY excited to announce the launch of the Maleny Supa Iga Local Product Local Recipe Cards featuring MY recipes with each one using a fabulous local Sunshine Coast ingredient!

They are available to pick up in store, the first 5 are available right now and a new one will be out each Monday!

www.malenyiga.com.au

Deliciously Simple - Cheese Toasties

I love food, good food that is and great ingredients. I love sourcing ingredients, trying new ingredients, adapting recipes and growing food, making food an experience and I love to cook.
I don't just love elaborate meals either, I am a big fan of simple.
I have noticed that since the occurance of all the gorgeous cooking shows (yes I love a lot of them too) people seem to be overlooking some of the classics, the basic dishes that are beautiful, simple and delicious.
Like a REAL cheese toastie...
I'm not talking a white bread, processed cheese roadhouse grab and eat but rather a plate of deliciousness cooked with love from great ingredients like a beautiful rich, dense bread with real flavour, good cheese and a great mustard and I like to through in some delicious greenery in there too or have some on the side and you have this amazing, satisfying and also very simple dish.

'Food doesn't need to be complicated to be good, in fact some of the simple recipes are often the best'
These cheese toasties were made in my kitchen using local Sunshine Coast ingredients thanks to the Maleny Supa IGA who now also deliver to most of the Sunshine Coast and have online shopping -now what busy mum doesn't love that idea!'
And I can tell you as a busy work from home mum with two girls under seven seeing a van arrive with carefully packed yummy, healthy ingredients is exciting indeed!
In particular these toasties contain the most incredible mustard, Macadamia Mustard by Terra Australis from Maleny and Essential Grain Olive bread from Noosaville both found at the Maleny IGA.

Healthy Food IS Beautiful

BEAUTIFUL FOOD Healthy, natural food is gorgeous.

Appreciate the wonder of nature and its bounty or edibles.

Take the time to have a clean fridge and display your vegetables with care and thought so when you open the door a beautiful collection awaits you - filling you with inspiration for a loving family meal or a great quick bite to eat.
Select your produce with interest, smell the fruit, think of exciting ways to cook the vegetables, new recipes to try.
Look for interesting types you have never tried, heirloom varieties, organics grown with passion. Appreciate all the nutrients these wonderful foods will provide you and your family.

Find local suppliers, farmers markets.
Swap produce with neighbours.

Have fruit out on show in a bowl. Edible art.

Grow vegetables in your flower gardens - they are beautiful plants.

Plant a fruit tree.

Help your local kindergarten grow cherry tomatoes for the kids.

When we start to see healthy food as the delicous world of flavours, nutrients and ingredients it is, when we take the time to discover how interesting it all is we do fall in love with healthy eating and healthy food.

Rebecca x







STAY TUNED for information on my exciting new cookbook
Healthy Mumas loving Healthy Food

PS Hope you like the pictures of some of our families home grown edibles :)