If you’re looking for something fun to feed the kids on Halloween, here’s a few ideas to get your hair standing on edge and your blood curdling. Of course, the grosser the better… so think eyeballs, zombies, oozing raspberry sauce and ghoulish tomato paste. Mmmm, delicious!

Today’s feature is an incentive to motor on down to your local supermarket and pick up some ingredients for a Saturday morning pancake extravaganza. Maybe you’re a novice in the kitchen but still love to delight {yourself} and your family with fabulously fun dishes? Perhaps you have a fussy eater in the [...]]]>

Today’s feature is an incentive to motor on down to your local supermarket and pick up some ingredients for a Saturday morning pancake extravaganza. Maybe you’re a novice in the kitchen but still love to delight {yourself} and your family with fabulously fun dishes? Perhaps you have a fussy eater in the family that needs a bit of encouragement to try something new? Either way, it’s tough to beat the humble pancake for ease and artistic license. Here’s some great ideas to get you started!

1. Bunny Pancakes by Ziggity Zoom
2. Miniature Panda Pancakes by Jenni Price
3. Kitty Pancakes by National Wildlife Federation
4. Octopus Pancakes by Jim’s Pancakes
5. Bunny Pancakes Tutorial by Jenni Price
6. Peanut Butter Poodle Pancakes by Rachel Ray
7. Puppy Dog Pancakes Recipe by Taste of Home
8. Teddy Bear Pancakes by KeepingTheFaith

Oh my heavenly chocolately goodness… I think I’ve found the tastiest “home baked” chocolate chip cookies on the planet. I had the {lets face it, extremely pleasurable} task of road testing a batch of “BAKED by mum” cookies on the weekend and the result was, delicious!

Firstly, [...]]]>

Oh my heavenly chocolately goodness… I think I’ve found the tastiest “home baked” chocolate chip cookies on the planet. I had the {lets face it, extremely pleasurable} task of road testing a batch of “BAKED by mum” cookies on the weekend and the result was, delicious!

Firstly, I should say that it was my intention to bring you a series of photos of my family tucking into these cookies, which were baked by me {the kitchen novice} and delicately placed on a three-tiered cake plate in High Tea style. However, after making coffees for the adults and smoothies for the kids, by the time I sat down at the table I was lucky to snag one of the last couple of cookies from a plate full of crumbs!

The cookies that we tested were from the pre-made dough range in Milk Chocolate. They are all natural and are made with no added preservatives and big chunks of chocolate, yummo! The range also comes in White Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, TRIO Chocolate, White Chocolate Macadamia… and many more. Gluten free varieties are also available. The good news is that if you’re not a expert at baking, you just can’t go wrong. Simply cut the mix into portions, roll into little balls, place on a baking tray and you’ll turn out a perfect batch every time.

BAKED by mum is available for cookie dough fundraising. Delivery of cookie mixes and doughs is now available Australia-wide.

Now… are you ready for the mouth-watering news? We’re giving you the chance to road test your own batch of cookies! We have two packs of BAKED by mum cookie dough to giveaway to two lucky readers. To enter, simply visit BAKED by mum and tell us in the comments section below which flavour you would most like to try! Two winners will be drawn on 18 August, 2011.

Hi folks! I’m super excited today to showcase the selection of the fabulous entries that we received for our Creative Lunchbox Competition. The entries came from all over the globe and it was so tough to choose a winner… So here’s to celebrating creativity in food. I hope that it gives you [...]]]>

Hi folks! I’m super excited today to showcase the selection of the fabulous entries that we received for our Creative Lunchbox Competition. The entries came from all over the globe and it was so tough to choose a winner… So here’s to celebrating creativity in food. I hope that it gives you some inspiration and ideas for how to make meal time at your house a teensy bit more fun!

Our winner is Emmem from Singapore. Andrea {from Kawaii Kids} and I chose Emmem’s whimsical entry “A Trip to the Zoo” as we love both the concept and it’s lovely that this is a design that you can easily make at home without any special tools. Not to mention that it’s sure to appeal to kids young and old with it’s cute animal theme! I hope you enjoy today’s showcase, and THANK YOU to all the lunchbox artists for their delicious creations.

Emmem is Mum to 3 young kids who enjoys food and feeding the family.  She is new to lunchbox creationing and hopes to learn and be inspired by others’ creations too! Emmem says “These boxes give me a chance to expose the fussier kids to new foods in a fun and palatable way.  And did i say it’s a talking point for family bonding!  Certainly a win-win situation!”

Designed by Yuli in The Phillipines. Yuli is a Mum to a beautiful 3 year old and loves to prepare cute and healthy bento for her daughter to help establish good eating habits.

Designed by Li Ming in Singapore. Li is a Mum to two boys aged 4 and 7 and is addicted to packing bento for them on school days.

Designed by Pinky in NSW, Australia. Pinks says “Daddy and Harry think salad is yucky unless they have sea monsters in it, so here is my “Sea Monster Salad” bento box!”

Designed by Marsha in Perth, Australia. Marsha is Mum to a lovely 21 month old daughter and loves to try her hand creative and artistic pursuits, when time permits.

Designed by Carolyn in QLD, Australia. Carolyn is Mum to two little girls and loves being creative whether it be scrapbooking, card making, handcrafts, painting, music or reading KID independent!

Designed by Cath Bakker in NSW, Australia. Cath is an expert on all things lunch; she runs online business “Lunch Boxes with Love”, combining her love of food, photography and being creative.

Designed by Emily in Hong Kong. Emily’s creation features macaroni and an adorable a pink piggy made out of egg!

Designed by Karina in VIC, Australia. Karina is Mum to two beautiful girls, Amelia 8 and Jenna 6, who both love her “funky lunches”.

Designed by Higgi in VIC, Australia. Higgi is originally from Japan and is Mum to two boys aged 5 and 19mths. Higgi loves to sew kids clothing and runs a store on madeit called Higgi Handmade.

Designed by Emma in Perth, Australia. Emma is Mum to Manaia 13, Lotte 7 and Quilla 1. She’s a full time student, studying to become a midwife. Besides sneaking vegetables into lunchboxes, she loves softie making, sewing and hiding from the world with a good book and a diet coke.

Designed by Shae in QLD, Australia. Shae is a stay-at-home Mum to two gorgeous girls, Bianca (3.5) and Imogen (6 months).  In a former life she was a preschool teacher, these days she happily spends her days painting rainbows, dressing up as princesses and baking muffins.

Designed by Ning in Indonesia. Ning is Mum to a 3 year old picky eater which is why she likes to sneak in the goodies and the healthies into lunchboxes. She is also a part time designer and blogger.

Designed by Stine in Olso, Norway. Stine is a biology student and mother of a six year old boy and a baby girl. She has enjoyed making bento lunches since her son started school last autumn and thinks that school lunch should be quick to make, but also healthy and fun to eat.

Designed by Florence in Malaysia. Florence is Mum to two children and fell in love with bento creations when she stumbled onto a couple of bento blogs last July. She now runs her own bento blog, Making Bento is a Blessing.

Designed by Mel in VIC, Australia. Mel has a constant battle her boy’s (age 7 & 4) to try new foods and eat more vegies.  Her four year old also has multiple food allergies, so finding new and interesting ways to serve things to him is even more of a challenge.

Okay, so I should start by saying that the artists from Manjar Sweets who created these downright awesome cookies are located in Brooklyn, NYC… so no luck on shipping to Oz I’m afraid. However, you can still marvel and drool over them, like I am! I love the bushy mo [...]]]>

Okay, so I should start by saying that the artists from Manjar Sweets who created these downright awesome cookies are located in Brooklyn, NYC… so no luck on shipping to Oz I’m afraid. However, you can still marvel and drool over them, like I am! I love the bushy mo design, but my absolute favourite is the retro Diana Camera in bright blue.

When it comes to a packed lunch, the bento box is one of the most entertaining ways to send your kids off to school. You may think that it’s all kinds of crazy to spend so much time on a lunch, but as you can see from the following photos, the result [...]]]>

When it comes to a packed lunch, the bento box is one of the most entertaining ways to send your kids off to school. You may think that it’s all kinds of crazy to spend so much time on a lunch, but as you can see from the following photos, the result is a work of art! This month, I invite you to create your own lunchbox masterpiece. There’s a fabulous prize up for grabs & it’ll be super fun! Read on!

Your challenge is to design and assemble a creative lunch box that is fun, imaginative and tasty. I’ve included some images here to give you some inspiration and a rough idea of what we are looking for. Once you’ve finished your lunch box, please take a clear photograph and email it to us before 31 July, 2011. We will pick our favourite lunch box {in consultation with Andrea from Kawaii Kids, our fabulous prize sponsor} and publish both the winning creation and all the other fabulous entries on the blog in early August.

Now, for the details of the wonderful prize! The winning entry will score a Big Bento Basket from Kawaii Kids containing two bento boxes, snack boxes, and cutlery. You’ll also receive a {KID} independent bento accessories pack containing a selection of cutters, molds, food cups and accessories. Boy, that’s a whole lot of lunch box fun!

Entries close on 31 July, 2011. This competition is open worldwide!

Lunch Box Art Designed By…

1. Teddy Bear Box by Bento Fun
2. Bunny Bento Box by Another Lunch
3. Teddy Bear Bun & Sandwich by Hawai’i's Bento Box Cookbook
4. Crazy Monster Sandwich by This Lunch Rox
5. Umbrella Snack Box by Cute Food For Kids
6. Cute Cheese Faces by Another Lunch