Sunday morning

I am currently having a small love affair with Sundays. Not working part-time anymore, no rehearsals at the moment and living such a busy life during the week means by the time Sunday rolls around I am well and truly ready for a few slow hours of peace and relaxation.

As usual, I woke up early and eager to cook some healthy deliciousness for breakfast; I went straight to the shelf to grab a Bill Granger book- but alas, my bill-mad sister has her signed copies in her room, where she was still sleeping. Instead, I grabbed my recipe folder and decided to make muesli from the very first Home Eco lesson we did in Year 7. I can still remember how excited we were to cook in the ‘big’ kitchen, licking the spoon with the honey and butter, getting oats EVERYWHERE, treating it like gold when taking it home in a paperbag and the smell of our year level centre for the week afterwards.

My sister and I also this muesli at home, for weeks afterwards – sharing it with our grandparents (and eating it straight out of the jar)

The thing I love about this recipe is its simplicity, the fact that we always have the ingredients in the pantry, and the beautiful smell that takes me back to the first year of Year 7. I also think its a great recipe to start a Home Eco course with as it can be eaten at the ‘start’ of the day and emphasizes Breakfast being the most important meal of the day.

I have attached the recipe below, I used Goodness Superfoods Barley Oats as opposed to rolled oats, I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of almonds in the last step. You could, of course, add whatever dried fruit/nuts you wish! Next time I might add some chia and dried cranberries or blueberries.

Sitting down now with the paper, a piccolo latte, planning my week and looking forward to a nice long walk later on, bliss.
Happy Sunday x

Year 12 Brunchtime!

Today was the Year 12s final cooking session (they finished their folio food last week), I suggested we do something special for their last week, so my mentor gave me the ‘Design Brief’ of working out a Menu for a Celebratory Brunch 

I got straight to work last week planning a menu that could easily be achieved in their morning double, would be fun, tasty, easy to produce (…and a little bit healthy). The students who arrived first before school got to pick their recipes first (needless to say, the Brownies were the first to go) and the last students to arrive had the task of setting up the table for the brunch banquet and the tea and coffee. I wish I could have taken a photo of the setting, the boys did such a great job!

For the recipes, I picked some of my personal brunch favourites**  plus a couple of recipes I knew they had done before…

(**…not ALL my favourites..I’m not ready to unleash my all-time favourite Bill Granger recipes on them yet)

‘Year 12 Celebratory Brunch’

In the savory corner…

Corn Fritters with Cucumber Salsa (Australian Women’s Weekly, Cafe Favourites)

Mini Potato Latkes (a recipe they had made in Year 10)

Mini Pumpkin, Feta and Walnut Cigars (another recipe from Year 10)

Brushcetta (Australian Women’s Weekly, Cafe Favourites)

Mini Leek and Spinach Frittatas (Australian Women’s Weekly, Easy Baking)

…and for the Sweet Options…

Raspberry and White Choc Muffins (Donna Hay, Modern Classics 2)

Choc Raspberry Brownies (Australian Women’s Weekly, Easy Baking)

Apricot Fruit Scones (Australian Women’s Weekly, COOK)

 

I’ll leave you with the recipe for the Muffins – we made them mini! It’s not the healthiest of breakfasts, what I prefer to call cakefast. You could also replace the Sour Cream for a thick Low-Fat Plain Yoghurt, Oil for low fat melted spread and the flour for wholemeal….but thats just me being fussy!

raspberry and white chocolate muffins

Donna Hay Modern Classics 2

 

 

2 cups (300g) plain (all-purpose) flour  2 teaspoons baking powder  ¾ cup (165g) caster (superfine) sugar  1 cup (240g) sour cream  2 eggs  1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind  ⅓ cup (80ml) vegetable oil  1½ cups (225g) frozen raspberries 1 cup (175g) chopped white chocolate   Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF). Line 6 x ¾ cup-capacity (185ml) moulds with non-stick baking paper, making sure the paper is 5mm above the top of the tin. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the sour cream, eggs, lemon rind and oil and whisk together. Stir through the flour mixture until just combined. Carefully fold in the raspberries and chocolate and spoon into the lined moulds. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Makes 6.

All the recipes worked out SO well, they all finished around the same time and we all sat around together for a beautiful meal together. I would highly recommend any of these recipes- no one could pick a favourite (although I had a soft spot for the Corn Fritters (the salad was divine), the Apricot Fruit Scones which were moist and perfect, and the Mini-Pumpkin Cigars which were a definite surprise packet!) 

 What is your favourite brunch food to make? Or perhaps do you have a favourite breakfast/cakefast treat?

 

 

A slice of food porn, Home Eco class style!

A couple of quick sneaky snaps of some of the food I have demo’d and cooked on rounds- Cupcakes (I made 6 dozen in a lunch break for the kids who weren’t there for the baking part- they were so excited they didn’t have to miss out on decorating! 😊), Bread Rolls and Fruity Trifles

ICD 2012 – International Congress of Dietetics

I’ve just got back from Sydney where I spent the last few days at the International Congress of Dietetics!

It is a privilege for us to welcome colleagues and friends to Sydney for the 16th International Congress of Dietetics. At the time of writing over 2,200 delegates from 57 countries have registered from across the world, all joining together to celebrate the Congress theme: LEAP: Leadership, Evidenceand Advancing Practice.

The highlight of our Congress is without doubt the scientific program. The ICD Scientific Program Committee has invested considerable time and effort in developing a program which explores new directions in nutrition and dietetics and debate topics with high profile experts from across the world. With over 800 submitted papers accepted into the program, not to mention stimulating lead sessions, invited plenary talks, interactive workshops, symposia and sponsored sessions, our Congress reflects the diversity, innovation and commitment of our achievements in the dietetics world. We expect from the Congress you will gain a greater understanding of how the profession practises in all corners of the world. It is also the perfect opportunity to meet with your international colleagues.

Complementing the scientific program are the alternative workshops on offer, sponsored breakfast seminars and the widely popular trade exhibition. The official Congress opening ceremony will be held Wednesday 5 September and will feature the member country flag ceremony and opening address from NSW Governor, Professor Marie Bashir. This highlight event will be followed by the Congress Welcome Reception on Wednesday evening, where delegates can enjoy a few celebratory drinks and canapés while meeting up with colleagues, old and new.

So that’s a little glimpse as to what the whole conference was about – about 2500 delegates from the Nutrition and Dietetics field from around the world, jam packed into 3 amazing days of presentations, workshops, networking and a trade show.

I developed some great contacts and picked up some fantastic teaching resources which I can’t wait to use and share.

Thanks must go to Chobani Australia, who, through Social Media (Twitter Chat #eatkit – I’ll post about that one later!), were able to sponsor me to attend the conference. A huge shoutout to them for hosting me for such a busy and inspiring few days

Over the next few weeks I’ll share some of the information that I was able to gain and hopefully how I can help inspire other teachers – as well as students – in the classroom.

Sarah xx

Rock Cakes, Coeliacs and Folios – a slice of life on Teaching Rounds!

I have been super horrible with blogging so far- this isn’t because I am not inspired to work online, in fact – I love engaging with social media! But I find Blogging takes a bit more time and energy- which is hard to come by during placement!

I would LOVE for you to follow me on Twitter @scuthbert9 and Instagram ‘sliceofsarah’ as well as Pinterest.

Instagram and Twitter have enabled me to connect with professional foodies, healthies, nutritionists, dietitans and students across Australia. Being in shortened format that blogging, it enables me to give short bursts of what I am up to in the kitchen, at school and in life!

Anyway! Placement so far!

I am at a secondary school in Melbourne’s N-E Suburbs, based in their Home Economics Department. The school has 3 Home Economics teachers, The first, my mentor, it Head of Food Tech and also teaches Textiles and Geography, The second is Head of Senior School – who teaches different Food subjects from Year 8-11, and the third is part-time, teaching HHD and Year 8-9 Food.

During my time so far I have been teaching-

Year 7 Home Economics: Each Year 7 studies Home Eco for 1 semester, so I have 3 classes of Year 7 for 1 double per week. Culinary adventures have so far included Rock Cakes (a personal fave), Pasta Carbonara and Fruity Trifles! I’ve enjoyed taking my Year 7s, although they can sometimes be a little insecure, or in fact, OVER confident- I know where they are coming from- having taken Grade 5/6 in my last placement. They are a great workout for my classroom management skills, but they are good kids and really take pride in the food they present.

Year 11 VCE Food Tech– Having only finished school in 2009, my VCE Food Tech knowledge is still super fresh! I’m teaching the topic on ‘Planning Meals for Special Considerations’ as well as ‘New Technological Developments in Cooking’.  I LOVE these topics as they are both something that I am really interested in myself, and have experience with. Working at two different homeware stores-  Matchbox and Wheel and Barrow – has taught me all the tricks and tools of the trade in terms of new development (although the kids probably aren’t as interested in the warranties of each product :P) and studying Nutrition with an interest in Dietetics has given me a great basis of knowledge for special diets and considerations. I’ve had the pleasure of redesigning the SAC for this outcome (ah..I know!) and I’ve enjoyed building up a ‘Pizza for Special Needs’ task where students have drawn a special dietary req out of a hat (or a KitchenAid bowl). I included about 10 differents types, so they would be lots of variety with not too many double ups. Students have set about researching their ‘special need’; Coeliac, Lactose Intolerance, Pregnancy, Nut/Egg Allergy, Low Cholesterol, Low Sodium Diet- and will present and written informative report and powerpoint as well as producing their Pizza. It is also really good practice for them to write Food Orders and Time Plans in preparation for Year 12

I’ve also taken a few classes of Year 8/9 (they run Year 8/9 electives together) some highlights of those have included making and decorating Marble Cupcakes using chocolate piping shapes, Bread Rolls, and Cornish Pasties.

Heading into my last week I am looking forward to sharing a few more classes with the Year 12s as they finish off their folios, Year 7s as they do their first ‘test’ on Measuring Units and Food Safety and Year 11s as they make their Pizzas and some Gluten-Free Choc Cakes.

Hopefully this gives a nice little overview of time so far

Sarah xx

The first steps…

I started this blog during the uni holidays with the intention of making it an outlet for my interests in baking, health,  exercise, coffee, cake and nutrition…as fate would have it, now it the base of my assessment for study in Home Economics Education.

Over time, I hope to blog lots of slices of information, resources and reflect about my adventures in education, food and nutrition.

First of all…a little about me, in the theme of Home Economics, I thought I’d start with some questions I found online about ‘Getting to know YOU- Health, Food and Exercise’ (http://www.gettoknowu.com/Catagory/Health_01.php)

 

I’m enrolled at RMIT in the Applied Science/Education (P-12) course majoring in Food Science/Nutrition, which I should finish in Mid-2013. In my spare time, I love cooking, coaching netball, singing, dancing, performing in musicals and watching Gossip Girl!

What is the best food on a hot summer day?

Cocktails probably don’t count…so any variety of Ice Cream/Sorbet or Frozen Yoghurt with Frozen Berries!

What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?

I recently tried Chilli Stingray on a trip to Singapore! I was eating out with a friends family at one of Singapores Hawer Centres- we tried so many strange foods I had never heard of..but the stringray was an experience!

What is your favorite condiment?

I LOVE my condiments! A favourite would have to be Homemade Tomato Chutney, but I am also quite partial to Balsamic, Olive Oil and Lemon Juice!

What is the ideal comfort food?

Winter Casserole in any way, shape or form, In terms of dessert I can’t go past a Traditional Apple Crumble. 

What is the most important meal of the day?

Breakfast, by FAR! My sister and I are very sacred about breakfast, we hate even being talked to while we’re enjoying our morning rituals. I have great memories of good breakfasts and brunches I have had!

What do you do for exercise?

I’m a bit of an exercise nut, so I play netball once a week, dance 4-5 hours a week, plus I try and take my dog on a walk 1-3 times a week. 

What Olympic sport would you like to try?

I think I’d like to try Gymnastics, don’t know if I’d be very good..but I have also always admired Olympic ‘Walkers’ and Marathon Runners for their stamina and patience, and Swimmers for their dedication to early-morning training!

What was the first thing you learned to cook?

Jam Tarts and Scones with Nan and my sister, strong memories!

What is your favorite dessert?

Anything homemade! usually Apple Crumble followed by Tim Tams. The most memorable desserts I’ve had out have been at two of Matt Morans restaurants in Sydney

What disease frightens you?

Coeliac Disease….I don’t mind an occaisonal slice of Flourless Orange Cake, but I think I would struggle without my favourite Burgen Rye Bread!

What is your favorite salty snack?

Kraft Peanut Butter

What vegetable do you hate?

Potatos! I can’t stand the texture when they are steamed or boiled. Other than that I am a vegimanic!
What is the worst physical pain you have ever been in?

Who taught you to cook?

Surprisingly, My twin sister and I kind of taught ourselves to cook! Mum was never really a MasterChef (mainly after a rather scarring incident with salt instead of sugar in a pavlova) but our Nan was always very encouraging. 

What did your father like to cook?

He is the King of Stir-Fries and Meat and 3 Veg! He’s also pretty mean with the ice cream scoop.

What food would you starve without?

When I’m hungry I eat yoghurt….so I would seriously struggle without Tamar Valley Yoghurt

Have you ever won a trophy?

I have a few trophies from Netball Coaching with Macleod Netball Club, coaching U/15, 17 and 13 to Premiership/Runners-up.

What restaurant do you love even though you know you shouldn’t?

I am a bit of a fan of Cheap Tacos and Margharitas at Taco Bill, and also have a little guilty pleasure for McDonalds Happy Meals- it’s my Post-Opening Night Traditional Treat when I’m in a show or have a dance concert. 

Looking forward to sharing more ‘slices’ of myself and learning lots more throughout this semester and beyond

Sarah

 

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