Cherry Bomb Goat's Yoghurt Ice Creams

Every year it always feels like Summer and Christmas and all things happiness when cherries start to appear in the shops. The little, pretty red balls are such a refreshing dash of flavour and colour.

And nothing makes it feel quite like Summertime than beautiful ice cream.

This year my first new ice cream recipe for the Summery, Christmas season involved not just cherries but an ingredient that flavour wise matched them perfectly, a beautiful, creamy yoghurt I had not tried before CapriLac Goat Yoghurt.

This yoghurt is lovely and creamy and the natural flavour has just the right amount of tartness to make it a fantastic ingredient to work with. Goat yoghurt is said to be much better tolerated by a lot of people in regards to digestion as a healthy alternative that is easy to digest and can reduce tummy bloating (and all girls want that in the Summertime!).
It has the beneficial live and active cultures and the CapriLac brand is preservative free and naturally A2 and gluten free.
Found in Coles and Woolworths makes it readily available for families and it turned out to be popular with my kids too!

Cherry Bomb Goat Yoghurt Ice-creams

Ingredients
1 x 500 gm tub CapriLac Goat Yoghurt

1 & 1/2 cups cherries pitted. (Can use frozen too)

1/4 frozen cherries.

2 tablespoons raw honey
2 teaspoons organic vanilla paste
paddle pop sticks (food quality)

Method

• Divide the yoghurt in half.
• Prepare mold suitable for ice creams, (even plastic cups are fine)
• In a blender combine one half the yoghurt with the honey and vanilla. Blend well, set aside.
• Blend the other half the yoghurt with the cherries.
• In  the molds pour a layer of the dark yoghurt mixture and drop some frozen cherry pieces in.
• Top with the opposing coloured layer and keep going until the container is full.
• Use the pop stick to very gently swirl the two colours lightly together - only just!
• Freeze covered with cling wrap or a cover like 4Myearth until frozen.
• About 10 minutes in or when just starting to freeze add the pop sticks in, (they should stand up ok in the mixture by themselves).
• Run under warm water on the outside to loosen, remove and enjoy!

Notes

• To get a more jazzy and defined look freeze the separate colours one at a time and store the mixtures in the fridge. This will take some time but does look fantastic.
• You can add sweetener to taste for either layer as desired like raw honey, stevia, maple syrup, rice malt syrup.
• Try and add frozen cherry pieces in as well as they give a lovely texture contrast.

Toddler Tips

• Adjust to your child's preferred sweetness tastes. I find with little kids that the less sweeteners you use when young the less they need, give them a chance to taste sweet and tart foods with little added sweetener and then adjust from there as needed.

One of Bek's professional recipe creations. (c)2015RebeccaMugridge
Note: This was a sponsored post with Caprilac Yoghurt

Roasted Fig and Feta Muffins

Your a modern woman. You might work out, try to eat right (at least most of the time) and your a busy, happy mum.
You also want to look good and you to have your cake and eat it too.

Can we still really enjoy incredible food and still fit into skinny jeans?

Or is it only one or the other?

Is the next afternoon tea with girlfriends just that, only tea? Or can you have some delicious morsel on offer?
The last thing you want is your hard working, body conscious friends not enjoying a tea party.

I have been working on this dilemma as a mum who loves to eat and cook but also wear nice clothes for a few years now!
And I have become adapt and recipes that taste moorish but are kind to your hips too. 

Yes, I like many other women put on weight easily but I try to work hard to keep it off too so when I am enjoying great food and so much happier if I know it is healthy for me too!

Determined to get the best of both worlds, knowing how down I feel when I feel frumpy or too overweight and yet also having a foodie’s passion for beautiful food I have set about creating recipes that I can enjoy with girlfriends and we can all relax, eat and instead of worrying about calories get down to serious things like talking and laughing!

For me food is all about flavour, appearance and smell 

I love a high tea with girlfriends and am always looking for something to make that can leave a table of women speechless for a few seconds as they absorb the flavour and texture of the food.

As soon as I tried this yoghurt the flavours of the plum and roasted fig brought my taste buds alive and I knew I wanted to really marry that flavour with a great contrast, and so I created with love, my Roasted Fig Yoghurt and Feta Spelt Muffins.

Before you go eek, sweet yoghurt and feta in a muffin together? Trust me, you need to try these!The flavour combination just bursts in your mouth and the texture of the muffin is moist.

Ingredients

• 250 gm tub of yoghurt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons honey or stevia
• 1 free range egg
• 100 gms feta ( I used persian)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 & 1/2 cups wholemeal spelt flour (can use normal flour)
• 1 &1/2 teaspoons baking flour
• 1/4 cup dried plums/prunes finely chopped

Method

• Pre heat oven to 180’c
• Line a muffin baking tray with muffin cases.
• Beat butter until nice and soft, add in honey. Mix well.
• Add in the egg, combine well and then the water followed by the yoghurt.
• Fold through the dried plums and crumble in the feta into the mixture.
• Combine spelt flour with baking powder really well.
• Very carefully, without too many movements fold the spelt flour into the muffin mixture.The less stirring the nicer the muffins will turn out.
• Top each muffin with some extra feta and dried plums for decorative effect.
• Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake in the oven to approximately 25 minutes or until springs back to the touch.
• Serve. Particularly good when matched with girlfriends, light hearted chatter and a pot of great tea.

(c) Rebecca Mugridge 2014
www.authorrebeccamugridge.com

www.facebook.com/AuthorRebeccaMugridge

RECIPE - BerryLicious Muffins (No Added Sugar!)

Berrylicious Muffinns

Colourful, delicious, healthy and with no added sugar these are wonderful in kids lunchboxes, for work or morning tea. The combination of berries and coconut flour is beautiful and sweetened with honey and stevia they are a healthier alternative.

Ingredients

·         1 cup organic coconut flour (find me in the health food section)

·         1 cup gluten free SR flour (or spelt flour + 1 t baking powder) 

·         1 free range egg

·         ¼ cup raw honey or maple syrup/rice malt syrup/stevia 

·         2 tablespoons flaxseed oil 

·         1 cup frozen mixed berries

·         1 cupNatural Acidophilus yoghurt (I use Maleny Dairies)

·         8 drops vanilla liquid stevia (or 1 teaspoon good quality vanilla paste)

·         ¼ cup butter

·         ½ cup almond, soy or dairy milk

·         Muffin cases

Method

·         Preheat oven to 180’c.

·         Grease or line a muffin baking tray with muffin cases.

·         Whisk egg.

·         Combine egg with agave and vanilla stevia drops.

·         Stir in yoghurt and milk.

·         Tip the frozen berries into the mix, very carefully stir through.

·         Sift the flours together.

·         Gently fold the flour into the mixture, being very careful not to over mix.

·         Spoon mixture into the muffin tray.

·         Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until golden and springs back from the touch.

·         Serve.

Notes

·         Freezable. Wrap individually and freeze.

·         Great, healthy recipe for school lunch boxes.

Toddler Tips

·         This is such a great choice for toddlers and kids. No added sugar!

·         Agave is said to have great nutritional benefits.

·         Berries are always popular with the littlies and good for them too.

·         These are a huge hit with my toddler. 

This recipe is from the Local Product Local Recipe - recipe cards I created in a historic endorsement with Maleny Supa IGA supermarket. Promoting local products and producers from our region. Y

Recipe & Food Image Photography ©RebeccaMugridge 2013