Ingredients for the dough:

4 dl water
50 g yeast
5 tablespoons of olive oil
100 g graham flour
500 g whole grain flour

Ingredients for the topping:

1/2 dl water
1 union
3 cloths of garlic
1 can of peeled tomatoes
1 teaspoon of dried basil
450 g of beef – choose meat of a high quality
150 g of bacon*
Salt
Pepper

*  For a healthy alternative to pork, try turkey bacon. However, don’t eat more of it, because you believe it’s the better option – read more about turkey bacon.

How to make the healthy pizza bites

The dough

– Heat up the water. It needs to be lukewarm.

– Add the yeast and stir.

– Add 3 tablespoons of oil, 3 teaspoons of salt and all the flour. Knead the dough well.

– Let the dough rise for 45 minutes

– Knead the dough, when it has risen. Form around 20 small buns.

– Place the buns on trays lined with baking paper. Pressure them flat with your palm.

The topping

– Peel and chop the garlic and the union.

– Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a pot.  Fry the onions and garlic for about 1 minute

– Add 1/2 dl water, tomatoes, basil and 1 teaspoon of salt

– Let the sauce cook at low heat and without a lid on for about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

– Cut the bacon into small pieces. Heat up 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan and fry the bacon.  Put the bacon on a plate and add some more oil to the pan. Fry the beef until it’s cooked through. Season it with salt and pepper and take the pan of the stove.

– Distribute the sauce on to the pizza bites. Put the beef and bacon on top.

– Bake the healthy pizza bites in a preheated oven on 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

Ingredients for the dough:

4 dl water
50 g yeast
5 tablespoons of olive oil
100 g graham flour
500 g whole grain flour

Ingredients for the topping:

1/2 dl water
1 onion
3 cloths of garlic
1 can of peeled tomatoes
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of dried basil
300 g of chicken breast fillet
1 bell pepper
Salt
Pepper

How to make the healthy pizza buns

The dough

– Warm up the water. It needs to be lukewarm.

– Add the yeast and stir.

– Add 3 tablespoons of oil, 3 teaspoons of salt and all the flour. Knead the dough well.

– Let the dough rise for about half an hour.

– When the dough has risen, knead it again, and form 12 buns.

– Place them on a tray lined with baking paper and pressure them flat with your palm.

The topping

– Peel and chop the union and the garlic.

– Heat up 1 tablespoon of oil in a pot.  Fry onions and garlic for about 1 minute

– Add 1/2 dl water, tomatoes, oregano, basil and 1 teaspoon of salt

– Let the sauce cook at low heat and without a lid on for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

– Cut the chicken in strips. Heat up 1 table spoon of oil in a pan and fry the chicken strips until they’re cooked through. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

– Cut the bell pepper in strips.

– Distribute the sauce on to the buns. Put the chicken and bell pepper on top.

– Bake the healthy pizza buns in a preheated oven on 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

If you are baking these for children, you should be aware that some children at a certain age are quite particular with certain types of food. Also, they might not like to get food mixed together, and will refuse to eat the buns because the topping is touching the dough. Consider making a few without chicken and bell pepper on as a back-up. Read more about why toddlers don’t want food to touch.

Ingredients*
5 dl water
3 dl skimmed milk
50 g of fresh yeast
4 teaspoons of salt
4 eggs (a little bit extra for the egg wash)
16 sausages  (choose high-quality meat)
400 g whole grain flour
200 g rolled oats
400 g wheat flour
Ketchup (amount as you please)

* This is for a large batch – 32 good-sized sausage rolls. If you want a smaller batch, divide the numbers with two.

How to make the healthy sausage rolls

– Warm up the water and milk.  You can use a microwave or do it on a stove. You don’t necessarily need to use a thermometer. You can check the temperature by using your (clean) finger. The liquids need to be slightly warm, but not hot. If you get much above 40 degrees Celsius you run the risk of killing the yeast. If you go below 30 degrees Celsius its growth slows down dramatically.

– Add the yeast and stir. Add the other ingredients and knead the dough well. It’s good if the dough is a bit sticky, when you leave it to rise. It needs to rise for about half an hour.

– Knead the dough again and divide it into 4 portions. Roll out each portion to a circle with a diameter of 35-40 centimeters. Spread ketchup out on each circle.

– Divide each circle into eight squares. Cut the sausages in half and use one half on each square. Roll the dough around the sausages and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Make sure that the closure is downwards.

– Use an egg wash and brush it onto the surface of the sausage rolls.

– Let the sausage rolls rise again for about half an hour. Preheat the oven on 225 degrees Celsius and bake them in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes (or until they are golden).

Healthy granola bar recipe

Ingredients (for 18 bars):
50 g cranberry
½ dl hazelnuts
1 dl pumpkin seeds
3 dl rolled oats
50 g dried apricots
1 ½ dl honey*
½ dl chia seeds
100 g figs
100 g rye bread
3 dl bran flakes (or another healthy breakfast cereal)

* Honey should not be given to children below the age of 12 months due to infant botulism. Use another kind of sweetener instead if you want your baby to have a taste – for instance condensed milk.

How-to

– Chop the dried apricots and figs into small bits and grate the rye bread. Put the ingredients in a bowl and add the cranberries, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, rolled oats and chia seeds. Knead the honey into the ingredients. Make sure it sticks – if not, add more honey.

– Place the sticky mass on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Form the mass into a square, approximately 25 centimeter x 25 centimeter. Make your hands wet, press the mass really well together and straighten the edges.

– Bake in a preheated oven set on 150 degrees Celsius. Take out the tray and let it cool for 10 minutes. Cut out into muesli bars. You can do it by cutting three lanes in one direction and six in the other.

– Let the granola bars cool completely and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The granola bars can last for about three weeks.

Do you have a healthy granola bar recipe you’d like to share? Feel free to post it in a reply below this article – we love to be inspired!

Ingredients*
1,2 liter (5 cups) lukewarm water
50 g (1 oz) of fresh yeast
11 dl whole wheat flour
8 dl wheat flour (+ a little more to be knead into the dough)
3 dl oat meal
0,5 dl chia seeds (read about the health benefits of chia seeds)
One teaspoon of salt

*This is for a very large batch – around 25 good-sized rolls. If you want a smaller batch, divide the numbers with two.

How to make the whole wheat rolls

– Pour the lukewarm water into a large bowl. Stir together yeast, salt, chia seeds and oat meal. Add the whole wheat flour little by little while stirring. Add the wheat flour as well.

– When the dough is somewhat contiguous (but still wet and sticky), place the dough on the table (remember to put some flour on the table, so the dough doesn’t stick). Add a bit more wheat flour while kneading the dough. The dough is done when it’s cohesive and no longer sticky.

– Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it with a clean dish towel and let the dough rise for at least 1 hour.

– When the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and knead it a bit more. Add some flour if needed. Form the whole wheat rolls and place them on a the baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush over the rolls with milk and let them rise again for about 10 minutes.

– Preheat the oven on 190 degrees Celsius. Place the tray in the middle of the oven. Fill a ovenproof dish with water and place it in the bottom of the oven. This will make the roll’s surface more crunchy.

– Bake the whole wheat rolls for 20 minutes. Take them out of the oven and wait until they’ve cooled off, if you want to put some of them in the freezer.

For the twin baby shower fruit basket, you’ll need

• 1 watermelon (for the pram)
• Blueberries (for the blanket, use as much as you like)
• Grapes (for the blanket, use as much as you like)
• 2 pacifiers
• Strawberries (for the blanket, use as much as you like)
• 3 oranges (for the babies heads and the wheels of the pram)
• Stringed  licorice (for hair or to use as bows)
• 1 marker (to draw the eyes on)

Make the pram
Cut the watermelon almost in half by using a sharp knife. Leave some of the top on – this is the roof of the pram. Scoop out the watermelon flesh. A watermelon contains a lot of water, so you might want to put on an apron. Turn the spoon around and scrape the remaining flesh out. Save the watermelon’s flesh for the blanket. Take one of the oranges and cut four round slices to use as wheels.

Make the babies
Use two oranges* for the heads. Use a marker and draw the babies eyes on. Use a small knife and cut little oblong holes as mouths. Put in the pacifiers. Place the heads in the pram and prepare the licorice. You can lay it over the babies heads as hair or make bows to put on top.

*You can also use mangoes as heads, blueberries as eyes and strawberries as mouths. Attach the blueberries and strawberries with toothpicks.

Blanket
Cut out the rest of the fruit and leftover fruit flesh, and put it in the watermelon as a blanket covering the babies bodies.

Now your twin baby shower fruit basket is ready to be admired and eaten!

Ingredients for twin baby shower cake

Chocolate ganache:
200 g (7 oz) of dark chocolate 70%
2 dl (3/4 cup) whipping cream

Chocolate cake:
240 g (1 1/4 cup) sugar cane light
75 g (2 oz) grated marzipan
170 g (2/3 cup) soft butter
Four medium-sized eggs
200 g (7 oz) dark chocolate 55%
140 g flour (1 1/4 cup)
70 g cocoa (2 oz)
1,25 teaspoon baking powder

Decoration:
500 g white fondant (1 lb, 1 oz)
Powdered sugar
Two marzipan bears and sprinkles

You’ll also need:
Spring form, approximately 26 cm diameter
Cake dish
Spatel or your own (very) clean hands

Need to do your own convertion to pounds? Use this metric converter

Make the chocolate ganache: Chop the chocolate coarsely, and put it in a deep bowl. Heat the cream up to just below the boiling point. Pour the cream over the chocolate, and leave it for a few minutes. Gently mix the cream and chocolate together to make a smooth chocolate ganache. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for an hour until it thickens.

Make the chocolate cake: Knead the sugar and marzipan together. Add the soft butter little by little. Add one egg at a time and stir. Chop the chocolate coarsely, and melt it over a water bath at low heat. Stir it into the egg mixture. Mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder, and sift it into the batter. Stir the batter well, and put it in a spring form (diameter 26 cm) lined with baking paper in the bottom.

Bake the cake at 175⁰ C  using the convection setting. Bake it for about 30 minutes until it gives when you apply light pressure. When the cake has cooled, cut it free from the form, and place it on a cake stand.

Butter the cake with an even layer of ganache, and cover it with white fondant. Squeeze the fondant firmly, and cut the fondant nicely along the bottom of the cake stand. Smooth the surface with entirely clean hands or with a smoother.

Decorate the cake. We used two marzipan bears, sprinkles and round caramels covered in white sugar as cake edge.

The twin baby shower cake can be stored in the refrigerator. Don’t put it in a box as the fondant might ‘sweat and melt.’ Use plastic wrap and make sure that there isn’t anything in your refrigerator that has a strong smell – it might cling to the cake.

We found this recipe online and added our own little twists to it – have a look at the original recipe (in Danish).

Baby shower – humor the mother-to-be

Consider what the mother-to-be wishes and likes. She’ll soon be having to deal with two babies at once and deserves that things go her way for a little while (she’ll have enough to deal with, when the babies are born). Ask her what her thoughts are about the shower. What does she like and dislike? If she likes chocolate, then make her this delicious and elegant twins cake with chocolate-marzipan. It’s our absolute favorite baby shower cake!

Birthday party and twins cake theme

Consider whether or not your children would like to share a cake. Since they’ll always be sharing their birthday, it might be important for them to have separate cakes to feel that they have something of their own. You could also consider letting them share a cake, but dividing it so they get a piece each – as done with this cute birthday cake for twins. You can also choose to customize the twins cake according to the personality of the child – take a look at this brilliant example made for boy-girl twins and this cool example made for girl-girl twins.  

Have a great time baking your own twins cake – and please feel free to share any comments and suggestions with us below this article.

Yams is staple food

If you are trying to conceive twins and choose to up your intake of yam, you should be aware that yam is a staple food throughout Western Africa.This means that you would have to eat A LOT of yams in order to match the intake of West African women.