Picture this. It’s 4pm on a Saturday afternoon and you’ve just got a phone call. Your friends are having an impromptu BBQ at 6pm and because you always bring the sweets they’ve asked you to bring something for dessert. The problem is you are currently watching Real Housewives of Beverley Hills and really don’t want to hang out in the kitchen for the next two hours.

Solution? Super simple chocolate spiders!

Ingredients
1 packet of original fried noodles (from the Asian aisle in your supermarket)
2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter or Gianduja
200grams Belgian dark chocolate

1. Microwave dark chocolate and peanut butter or Gianduja in a microwave safe bowl for about 60 seconds on high. If not melted, then microwave again in 5 second intervals.
2. Mix well until it is a smooth paste.
3. Add noodles and coat them well.
4. Spoon the mixture onto a grease-proof paper, or into individual paper patty pans.
5. Place in refrigerator until set.

This recipe will make about 15-20 chocolate spiders, the perfect amount for a BBQ with friends!

Here at Kitchen Angel we love our Mum’s. They are our constant guides, inspiring us every day and always offering unconditional love and support. We thought with Mother’s Day coming up we would ask some of our staff and regular visitors what their mothers taught them!

 
Georgina (nearly 4) – How to do nice things & cuddle.

 
Paolo (31) – How to be on time, be accountable & how to  iron, wash and cook!

 
Dina (66) – To always wash your face & comb your hair first thing in the morning.

 
Laura (37) – That you don’t need recipes to cook, how to make my bed & an obsession with coffee. Oh and I can’t forget that she taught me my love of fashion!

 
Trudy (26) – To always be considerate and kind. To be open minded, love animals and to trust my creativity!

 
Julian (6) – How to read and write.

 
Carla (18) – How to make pumpkin soup, how to clean a toilet and how to make a bed.

 
My mama and I.
 

What did your mother teach you?

Love, your angel,
Trudy

In Locale we have recently swapped the water brand that we stock to Thankyou water, a social enterprise founded by 3 young Aussies which sells bottle water to Australians to help fund safe water to people in developing countries.

It took them a few years to get off the ground but in the last few years Thankyou water has really taken off as the concept has taken hold and larger industries have given their support by assisting with machinery and stocking.

The Australian bottled water industry is worth $600 million a year however 800 million people around the world have no access to safe water. The founders really tapped into this market and are helping Autralians to help others just by grabbing a bottle of water.

The reason I had a post it on my desk telling me just how much I would love this concept is because I have experienced this first hand. My boyfriend and I have just gotten back from living overseas for nearly 2 years and on our way home we spent some time in South East Asia including 3 weeks in Myanmar (Burma).

Myanmar is an amazing place. Largely untouched by technology and western society it has a difficult political past that it is still trying to come out of. Resource rich, the wealth of the country is funneled into a very small percentage of the society.

Some of the gorgeous kids we met in Nyaung Shwe, one of the villages where Thankyou waterprovides clean drinking water.

‘The city of Rangoon, Myanmar’s largest city, is home to 11% of its entire population. The majority of the people in this region receive piped water as their primary water source. This water, originating from four distant reservoirs and tube wells located around the city, is transmitted to roughly 60% of Rangoon’s residents through a series of out-dated pipelines.

In rural Myanmar, many are reliant on communal ponds, hand dug wells and household rainwater harvesting systems as their primary water supply. Those that source their water solely from man-made ponds are particularly vulnerable to loss of access to water, especially during the drier seasons.’

Cooking in the streets of Yangon (Rangoon).

While I was travelling through Myanmar I noticed this lack of access to water. The majority of the country drink bottled water however those living in slums cannot even afford this (a 1 litre bottle of water was approximately .30AUD).

Myanmar is not the only country that Thankyou water supports. They also work to provide safe drinking water to Cambodia, Kenya, India, Timor Leste and Uganda. Each bottle of water has a code so you can track where your assistance goes.

Every bottle of water you buy will provide 1 month’s worth of safe water to someone in need. I can tell you from first hand experience this is a wonderful gift to give.

Next time you drop in to Locale grab a bottle of Thankyou water. For only $2.50 that’s a lot of karma points.
Love, your angel,

Trudy.

Ciao!

I’m Trudy, the newest member of the Kitchen Angel team. I’ve been a long time fan of all things Italian so when
I was offered the chance to work in a fun environment where I got to sample and tout the benefits of the Kitchen
Angel products, many of which are gluten, dairy and preservative free I jumped at the chance!

What makes Kitchen Angel products so unique and delicious is that they are made from whole nuts. Using
our super duper special machine we crush the nuts whole to make the delicious baking mixes which are our
signature products.

Working with nuts to produce these products means Mario, our head chef, is particularly discerning when it comes
to sourcing his supplies. He personally heads out to test the nuts before he purchases them to ensure their
quality and freshness.

Having access to some of the best nuts around means we also are able to sell them on to our customers in
handy little packs, perfect for the office or your handbag.

Being a vegetarian, nuts are a fantastic substitute for protein for me and I always make sure I have a packet
of hazelnuts or almonds with me for when I feel the energy slump hit. Lucky for me (and you!) our different nut
packs are incredibly affordable.

Next time you are in store check out our selection of nuts or if you aren’t able to visit in person you can always
buy online.

Ciao!

• the Lindt Gold Bunny.  We may or may not have over indulged in a rabbit or two this last month.  And we may or may not still have another couple of bunnies sitting on our kitchen bench.

• my new O Bag.  Uber cool colour, texture and look, reminiscent of the mediterranean sea.  This bag takes me from carrying my laptop to doing the grocery shopping with many a look of envy as it sashays down the street.

• radishes.  a long lost root vegetable that I’ve recently rediscovered thanks to the girls at work.  This veggie is making a BIG come back in my favourite salads and cheese on crackers.

• Solare.  Pronounced /soˈlare/.  The Italian word to describe someone’s “sunny” or cheerful disposition.  We just love this word at the moment.  Just saying it puts a smile on my face!

What are you loving right now?

We’re so excited to be at the High Tea Party being held at the Sofitel, Brisbane this weekend.  We hear the Saturday has been a sell out and as at the time of publishing this post, there are still a couple of tickets left for the Sunday sessions.  Come on girls, what other excuse do you need to get your girlfriends together for a bit of food, frivolity and fancy things?!

For those of you coming along, make sure you pop in and say hi to myself and Trudy at the Kitchen Angel stand.  We’ll be there with our famous biscotti, baking mixes and other goodies.  We will also be showcasing our newest product at the event (that’s right, it will be available first and foremost to all the High Tea Party goers before it is released anywhere else) so make sure you come in to try it before everyone else gets on the bandwagon.  And for those intending to do a bit of shopping this weekend, every purchase of $50 more at the Kitchen Angel stand will include a free gift.  Everybody loves a gift with purchase, right?!

So just in case you’re hoping to get some last minute tickets to this fabulous event, here’s the link.

Love, your Angel,

Laura

Exciting news!  We have been through our strict testing and audit program and have been officially endorsed with Coeliac Australia’s crossed grain logo, commonly known as:

That means we are suitable for those who suffer from coeliac disease, follow a low or gluten free diet or suffer from wheat intolerances.  We also share many gluten free recipes using our baking mixes so we’re not just a one-baking-mix-one-cake kind of solution.

And now we have the official stamp of approval from Coeliac Australia to prove it!

Oh and did we mention we’re dairy free too?

Pretty cool huh?  We think so too.

To celebrate our endorsement, we have 2 double passes to give away to the Gluten Free Food Expo in Brisbane on 10-11th May 2013.  For a chance to win, all you have to do is tell us your favourite gluten free product and why you love it so much.  This competition is open until 5pm Friday, 19th April.  Simply add your answer as a comment to this post.  You can enter this competition once daily and it is open to anyone within Australia who is able to attend the Brisbane expo.  All other costs associated with attending the expo (including travel) are not included.

Good luck!

Love, your Angel,

Laura

This is a brief post.  Not on desserts or anything sweet but on another Italian staple, pizza.  So for years I’ve been hearing about “the best pizza ever” that cost a bomb but was worth every cent.   Every time the conversation of pizza comes up, all I hear from Mario is “the best pizza I ever had was in Harrods, London.  Cost a fortuuuune.  But it was good.  And this is a compliment because when I was young I used to eat two pizzas EVERY NIGHT.  And I worked with my friend in the pizzeria, had my own pizzeria and have eaten pizza in every region in Italy“.

And as much as he stresses the two pizzas EVERY NIGHT, I need to stress I hear this same conversation EVERY TIME we talk about pizza.  Got the message Mario.  And I have to say that even though Mario makes a pretty good pizza, I still had my doubts.  I mean, Italians invented the pizza so surely the best pizza in the world must be in Italy, right?

But today I got this message from my boyfriend, a trained pizza chef, who’s doing some travels at the moment.  “This was goood pizza, definitely lived up to the hype.  Everything about it was perfect“.  And here’s the photo to prove. it.

So I ask – would you pay $40 for ‘the best pizza in the world‘?

After two pizza experts and a pizza aficionado professed the same message, then I guess they must be right.  And now I can’t wait to go back to London to try myself some pizza at Harrods.

Love, your Angel,

Cat

~ a recipe by the Cali family as featured in The Gourmet Traveller.

“…[this recipe is] from the Piedimonte Etneo pasticceria Caffe Cali.  The gelato features characteristically Sicilian ingredients:  almonds from the town of Avola, pistachios from the town of Bronte and hazelnut and citrus from Etna.”

Ingredients

60g almonds, coarsely chopped

60g hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

50g pistachios, coarsely chopped

80g mixed glace fruit finely diced

50g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 litre (4 cups) milk

250g caster sugar

200ml pouring cream

150g dextrose

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

image courtesy Gourmet Traveller

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 180C. Roast nuts separately on oven trays until golden (5-10 minutes), rub skins from hazelnuts, cool, coarsely chop, combine in a bowl with glacé fruit and chocolate and set aside.

2.  Combine milk, caster sugar, cream, dextrose and vanilla seeds in a saucepan over high heat, bring to the boil, place in a bowl over ice and stir occasionally until cool. Freeze in an ice-cream machine, stirring in nut mixture in the last minute of churning. Transfer to a container and freeze until firm (2 hours).

As I’m sure you’ve garnered from my recent blog posts, photographing food is a secret little passion of mine, resurrecting itself from a lifetime in a ‘too busy pursuing a career’ folder filed way back in my filing cabinet.

To help keep me on my toes and practice, practice, practice I decided it was about time to join one of the #photooftheday challenges which I’ve been stalking these last few months. Yes people, if you have some random person liking your photo-of-the-day but not necessarily following other blog posts or commenting, then it’s probably me!  And it just happens as I was spending a lazy afternoon at home in torrential Brisbane recently, catching up on my favourite blogs, that I read JJ’s update that the month of March is a foodie photo-a-day challenge!

So for those wanting to check out my progress, you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter. And if you feel like getting in the sandpit and having a play with the rest of us, here’s your link to the #marchfoodphotos: March 2013 Foodie Photo-A-Day Challenge!

For anyone who thinks they have a recipe I might enjoy testing out, or a place to go to in Brisbane that will inspire my foodie photo-a-day challenge, feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

Ok guys, time to put the laptop away and get my camera ready.