CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

Hello Everyone! My name is Marie Phitidis but many of you will know me as ‘Phoodie!’

Apart from being a busy Mum to 2 kids (and a fur baby), I write a blog, also called PHOODIE! PHOODIE has been going for 10 years and is a food blog for all of those people who think they can’t cook but would like to be able to. All of the recipes are super simple, affordable, family-friendly and are written with much love.

Since 2009, I have built up a large following across the blog and of course on social media, and for many years my readers have been asking for me to do a cookbook!

Well, I have finally given in, and am in the process of writing my very first one! The book will be a beautiful 320+ page, hard-cover, colour extravaganza! Apart from a couple of new recipes, it is basically a collection of my most loved and asked for recipes from the blog. All of the (160 or so) recipes have been written and tested by myself. I have also done all of the photography for the book and the illustrations. The book is due to come out Mid-April 2020, just in time for Mother’s Day! I am super excited.

So why am I writing this post?!

Well, I have made the decision that 100% of the profits from my cookbook will be going to the Sydney Children’s Hospital C3 South ward (Adolescent and Mental Health), where I volunteer every Tuesday and have done so, on and off since 2006.

After spending much time on the ward with many different children, parents, and families, I have SO many ideas about how the ward could be helped. From a ‘Rec Room’ refurbishment, to proper, collapsable parent beds within the kids rooms, to games and technology for the kids to use and SO much more!

For many personal reasons, Children’s Mental Health has always been an area that I have been passionate about. I knew from a young age it was a space that I would love to volunteer in and I was always certain that I would be dedicated to raising money for the cause.

All of my PHOODIE work, for the past 10 years with the recipes and photography, as well as my work over the 9 months of putting the book together now, is to be unpaid. I am volunteering my time and resources to this project with much love. Therefore, the only expenses in creating this book (which are approx. $20,000), are having the books printed and delivered, and the fees for the graphic designer to assist with layout. That’s it.

The original idea was that whatever money came back from the book sales would be directed to firstly, covering the $20,000 costs and THEN the remaining money, all of the profits, would go to C3 South. But that would mean that the first $20,000 raised from sales would go to covering costs before I even made a cent for the hospital. I knew I could do better than that…

So, after much thought and deliberation, I set up this Go Fund Me account. My plan is to reach out to ANYBODY or ANY COMPANY/ORGANISATION who may wish to sponsor this book with a donation, in the hope of covering the $20,000 costs, and that way EVERY SINGLE CENT FROM EVERY SINGLE BOOK SALE can then go DIRECTLY to C3 South – Adolescent / Mental Health!!!

Every individual or company donor will be thanked within the copy of the final book and in addition to that, I (along with thousands of children) will be ETERNALLY grateful for your support and assistance! If you have ever experienced having a child suffer from a Mental Health condition or had someone you love be admitted to hospital for one, be it your own child, a friends, a sibling or someone else, I am sure you understand how special this cause is.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

With much love and appreciation,

Marie aka Phoodie

XXXXX

Who doesn’t love Toblerone!?

Who…

WHO?!

Seriously, I’m not sure whether it’s the creamy chocolate, or the chewy nougat pieces or the triangles whose tips break off so delicately and jump straight INTO MY MOUTH, but I am a complete and utter Toblerone ADDICT.

And don’t get me started on White Toblerone!!!!! *drools for 6 years at the mere mention of it*

Ditto all of the above for Rocky Road.

SO, *pause* the pairing of Toblerone AND Rocky Road was just a no-brainer for good old Phoodie….

Whenever I make this, its always a huge hit, but make sure you look up all of my OTHER Rocky Road recipes too as there are dozens of them…..

And they’re pretty amazing too, even if I do say so myself!

Kali Orexi!

INGREDIENTS

Makes a large dish (approx 23 x 35cm)

380g Chocolate covered almonds
720g Toblerone (chopped into large chunks)
280g pink and white marshmallows

8 x 40g Nougat Honey Log bars (roughly chopped)

3 x 350g blocks Cadbury milk chocolate (you can use any chocolate you like!)

METHOD

1) Line your dish with baking paper and set aside.

2) Place all of the ingredients except for the milk chocolate and about 180g chopped Toblerone chunks in a bowl and gently mix.

3) Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave in 10 second bursts, stirring in between or, over a bain marie.

4) Pour melted chocolate over the other ingredients and stir well before transferring to baking paper lined dish.

5) Top with remaining chopped Toblerone chunks as shown in the pictures and set in fridge for at least an hour.

I love to serve this on a wooden chopping board with a knife. It allows guests to take as little or as much as they like!

ENJOY!

I want to tell you two things.

Number 1, I’m a cheater.

Number 2, my kids hate mixing food together or eating dishes where foods are combined.

Re: Numero Uno – I say “cheater” in the best sense of the word…. I’m only a cheater when I cook. What that means is, if I can get something “store bought” I will absolutely not hesitate to buy it. For example, pretty much this entire platter.

Re: Numero Duo – This makes them sound like nightmarish eaters which they totally aren’t! They eat EVERYTHING but just don’t like mixing stuff together.

These two facts, 1 and 2, make this Middle Eastern Lamb Platter the perfect lunch or dinner option for our family.

And I hope for yours too!

So remember, 1) buy premade stuff WITHOUT GUILT and 2) let the kids serve themselves, that way, far less left overs!

Kali Orexi!

Phoodie

INGREDIENTS and METHOD

(Choose a quantity that will work for you depending on the number of people you are serving! This dish works really well for larger groups, but also just as well for a mid-week dinner for a family of 4!)

Roasted Cauliflower – break into florets and roast – with a drizzle of EVOO and a sprinkle of salt – in the oven at 180 deg. cel. for 20 mins / until dark around edges.

Lamb Cutlets – pan fry or grill.

Chickpeas – drain and rinse.

Dolmades (or rice stuffed vine leaves) – remove from tin! You can also buy these in the deli section at your local supermarket.

Tabbouleh – make it or buy. Click HERE for recipe.

Grilled Eggplant – grill or buy from the deli section at your local supermarket.

Mini Heirloom Tomatoes – wash.

Mini Cucumbers – wash and halve.

Feta-Stuffed Olives – buy these in the deli section at your local supermarket.

Hummus – make it or buy. (OMG, I cant believe I have not put a Hummus recipe on this blog! STAY TUNED!)

Mint – wash and trim ends.

Mini Falafel – buy from local gourmet deli or deli section at your local supermarket.

Garlic Dip – buy.

Lebanese Bread – buy.

SEE?!?!?!?!? SO EASY! And looks and tastes AMAZING! #Cheater #SorryNotSorry

Who doesn’t love a Spotty Cookie?!

Seriously.

And now you’ve got a recipe that is SO simple and SO yummy, you’ve genuinely got no excuse not to whip up a batch!

That said, I used to make this recipe ALL THE TIME years and years and lifetimes ago…. but it’s been ages and I don’t know why!

Looking at the pictures you’ll see that I made some with 3 spots and some with 5, I also used a very heaped tablespoon to measure out the cookie dough portion….

Feedback to myself on this batch would be to make the cookies half the size i.e. a flat teaspoons worth of dough, and top with 3 spots only. They’ll seem small but they grow in the oven and due to the short-bready nature of this dough, I think they definitely work better as a ‘mouthful’ style cookie as opposed to a tennis ball sized one!

No electric mixer is required and the recipe only calls for a handful of ingredients so……

GET BAKING!

Kali Orexi,

Phoodie

INGREDIENTS – Make approx 70 small cookies

200g butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons Vanilla essence

2 eggs

3 cup self-raising flour

Lotsa M and Ms!!!

METHOD

1) Preheat the oven to 180 deg cel.

2) Combine butter, sugar, vanilla and the lightly-beaten egg in a bowl.

3) Sift the four on top of the mixture and mix together well.

4) Cover the bowl and place in fridge for 20 minutes.

5) Take a small amount of dough (about a level teaspoons worth) and roll it into a ball. Flatten gently and top with 3 M and Ms.

NOTE (In the pictures I used too much dough per cookie, definitely make them smaller than that!)

6) Place each cookie onto a baking paper lined tray, an inch apart and when tray is full, bake in oven for 12 mins / until cookies are lightly golden.

7) Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

These cookies store for up to a week in an air-tight container.

Regular readers know how much I love rocky road….

All you need to do to realise that is to have a browse through my previous recipes…. every 2nd one is a unique PHOODIE Rocky Road creation!

That said, I can’t believe how long it has taken me to do a Tim Tam version!

And it’s an ABSOLUTE CRACKER! Feel free to experiment with the different flavours of Tim Tam to mix things up a bit.

Personally, I don’t think anything beats the classic milk (and the white are my second fave choice, hence the combo in this recipe!)

Don’t forget to follow PHOODIE on Social Media and share with me your snaps of my recipes when you make them!

FACEBOOK – CLICK HERE

INSTAGRAM – CLICK HERE

TWITTER – CLICK HERE

PINTEREST – CLICK HERE

Kali Orexi!

INGREDIENTS

Makes a large dish (approx 23 x 35cm)

2 x 165g packets White Tim Tams

3 x 165g packets Milk Choc Tim Tams

100g roasted hazelnuts

280g white marshmallows

3 x 350g blocks milk chocolate

METHOD

1) Line your dish with baking paper and set aside.

2) Chop up all of the Tim Tams, then set aside 1/2 cup chopped white ones and 1 cup chopped milk ones for the topping.

3) Place the chopped Tim Tams (but not the ones you have set aside), the marshmallows, and the hazelnuts in a bowl and gently mix.

4) Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave in 10 second bursts, stirring in between, or, over a bain marie.

5) Pour melted chocolate over the other ingredients and stir well before transferring to baking paper lined dish.

6) Top with reserved chopped Tim Tams, as shown in the pictures, and set in fridge for at least an hour.

I love to serve this on a wooden chopping board with a knife. It allows guests to take as little or as much as they like!

Corn Fritters have long featured on my breakfast (lunch and dinner) menus!

Not only are they SO easy to whip up, but they can be customised to suit the occasion, the weather, the consumer, the time of day and so on!

I love serving them with eggs and smoked salmon (or bacon) at breakfast, a rocket, avocado and parmesan salad for lunch, and then as a starter before a BBQ dinner, with a dollop of tzatziki on top!

My recipe makes a large batch (22 fritters!) so feel free to halve it…. or on the opposing end of the scale, if you’re a hungry lass or fella, double it, to suit you :)

Make sure to share your snaps with me on Insta (click here) and Facebook (click here) if you do decide to make them! And may I suggest that you definitely do!

Kali Orexi,

Phoodie

Ingredients (Makes 22)

2 cups self raising flour

4 eggs

2/3 cup full cream milk

750g corn (I used frozen kernels but you can also use tinned)

1/2 bunch chives, finely chopped

1/2 bunch coriander, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

butter and extra virgin olive oil (to coat base of pan when frying)

2 tsp Salt and 1 tsp pepper

Method

1) Sift the self raising flour (alternatively you can use plain flour and baking powder) into your mixing bowl.

2) Whisk eggs and milk in a smaller bowl and pour gradually into the centre of the bowl that is holding the flour. Stir to combine.

3) Gently mix in corn, chives, coriander, shallots and salt and pepper.

4) Turn stove on to medium heat, use just enough butter and EVOO to generously coat the bottom of your pan.

5) Place large heaped tablespoons of mixture into your pan, (noting that about 6 fritters can cook in a large pan at a time.) Cook for approximately 2 mins on each side or until golden colour (as per photos) is achieved.

6) Cook in batches making sure to add butter and EVOO to the pan before each round.

Serve with your choice of accompaniments – bacon, smoked salmon, avocado, rocket, eggs and tzatziki all make great combinations!

Scones with cream and jam…

Or is it jam then cream?

Yes, yes, it’s definitely jam first then cream on top! How do you even DO it the other way around!?

I’d love to know how YOU serve your puffy, fluffy little buns of fun!

This recipe has been in my family forever and a day, it’s one of the very first things I ever remember making with my grandmother in the early 80s.

SO happy to share it with you and even happier to be able to tell you that YOU CANNOT STUFF THIS RECIPE UP!

I mean there are ways to make it “not as good” as it could be and so on, but if you follow these steps, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. you will end up with delicious, fluffy scones!

Let me know if you make them, tag me on social! Click HERE to find me on FACEBOOK and click HERE to find me on INSTAGRAM!

Kali Orexi,

Phoodie

Ingredients (makes approx. 15)

4 cups self raising flour

300 ml thickened cream

375 ml can lemonade (I used bottled in the photos below, just because thats what I had)

Jam and Cream to serve (I used homemade raspberry jam – thank you lovely Fan!)

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 deg cel. 

1) Sift the flour into a large bow.

2) Pour in the tub of cream, followed by the can of lemonade.

3) Use a butter knife to mix your scones,. Cut through the dough as opposed to stirring it. This makes for lighter, fluffier scones, DONT over mix!

4) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 mins.

5) Feel free to sprinkle some self raising flour as needed if the dough is too sticky.

5) Use a drinking glass to cut rounds and place them onto a baking paper lined tray, closely together!

6) Bake for 13-15 mins, you want tops to be golden brown and scones to have risen.

SERVE IMMEDIATELY with freshly whipped cream or double cream and jam!

I follow an incredible account on Instagram called @run.cheat.repeat

I am constantly blown away by their creations! Talk about drool-worthy….

And while some may argue today’s post isn’t a ‘recipe’… I definitely wanted to post the CONCEPT anyway!

All you need is Toblerone and Oreos…. as the name suggests!

Melt the Tob, Dip the O’s, Set, Eat, WEEP!

Kali Orexi!

Phoodie

I’m generally a ‘More is More’ kinda gal…

Actually, that’s not true…. I’m FOR SURE a ‘Less is More’ human when it comes to certain things….

Confused yet?!

Don’t be!

I’m a Gemini, and we often swing like a pendulum with our opinions, thoughts and ideas…

The moral of this story is that, despite this recipe only having 3 ingredients (plus a dressing), it is SOOOOOOO delicious and so satisfying on every single level. When it comes to sides, this is the side to end all sides! It goes SO well with steak, fish, chicken or even paired together with other veggies and salads.

I make it ALL the time, and now you can too!

Kali Orexi!

X Phoodie

INGREDIENTS

4 big handfuls (approx!) of Green Beans / French Beans / Common Beans, trimmed

200g Marinated Feta

1/2 – 3/4 cup Roasted Hazelnuts

4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Juice from 1 lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

METHOD

1) Trim the ends off the beans, then wash them. Blanch for 1-2 mins in boiling water. MAKE SURE not to over cook them. You want them to remain bright green and retain a crunch. Transfer beans to salad dish

2) In a jar, shake together the lemon juice, EVOO and salt and pepper, to taste. Set dressing aside.

3) Scatter nuts over the top of the beans.

4) Top salad with large pieces of the marinated feta.

5) Spoon dressing over salad just prior to serving. Enjoy!

There’s nothing better than sitting with a blanket by the fire and eating comfort food on a cold winter’s night.

Ok, maybe eating ice cream on a beach in Europe, child-free and relaxing…..

But nup, I’d still choose the winter option any day!

And when I say ‘comfort food’, this COTTAGE PIE is EXACTLY the kind of dish I’m talking about.

I have made many Cottage Pie’s in my time but there is something about this one from ‘Recipe Tin’ that always makes me want to come back for more!

Just a couple of notes, I didn’t have any Worcestershire sauce or red wine on hand when making it this time so you won’t see them in the photos. That said, I suggest you do add those two ingredients if possible as they definitely improve the flavour. In addition, I added an extra carrot and celery stalk to try and sneak some more veggies in to my kid’s dinner!

Click HERE for the RECIPE!

Enjoy!

Kali Orexi,

Phoodie