Mandi's Making

Chocolate Peanut Butter Spiders

What’s this? More fantastic 90’s yummy treats? Yes, I’m going to make you all relive all your childhood birthday parties with these goodies! Think back to any kids party you attended during the 1990’s in Australia and you’ll remember that the menu’s were all pretty simple and all very similar. Chocolate crackles, honey joys, fairy…

Chocolate Freckles

What a month! Miss G had her 1st birthday party last week, so I’ve spent the past month planning the menu, then the week before the party getting the food ready, so please forgive me for the lack of posting on here! We’ve also been attending some of Miss G’s friends parties as well, so…

Oven Dried Cherries

Trying to find dried cherries in Australia during Winter is hard. Very hard. Absolutely nobody sells them! I looked high and low, the big names didn’t sell them and even the little gourmet providores didn’t have them. I finally had the issue explained to me by a local nutstand; it’s not Christmas. Dried cherries really…

Homemade Almond Meal

How many times have you gone to make a flourless cake, or macarons, or friands, or granola, only to find that you’ve run out of almond meal? This happened to me a couple of days ago. I got a freebie sachet of quick oats in the mail, and attached to it was a recipe for…

Feminine Hygiene Wipes

This is probably the most delicate post I’ve written so far on Mandi’s Making. Unless you’re Kotex or Carefree, or trying to fob off a thrush treatment on TV, ‘lady stuff’ is not really considered a polite conversation topic. So, I’m just letting you blokes know that this is going to be a ‘ladies-only’ post,…

Cleaning Your Shower Without Shower Cleaner – And Saving Money!

There are 3 things in our houses that we all dread to clean the most; the range hood, the oven, and the shower. For me, a clean shower needed a heavy duty foamy spray that clung to every surface… just like the cleaning industry tells you. I’d use almost 1 whole bottle of shower cleaner…

Chocolate Nut Brownie Energy Bar

Ever since I’ve become a mother I’ve gained a new food addiction; muesli bars. They’re easy, compact, and you can eat it with one hand whilst feeding a baby, pushing a pram, well you can see where I’m going. I always liked them before, but I have a new appreciation for these pocket morsels. It…

Banana Bread Granola

All cereal would be awesome if it didn’t have dried fruit in it, I reckon. Sultanas and raisins ruin everything! Yep, I’m one of those people. You know, the ones who think a mocha choc-chip Hot Cross Bun is perfectly acceptable to eat at Easter, the ones who berate the local cafe staff for not mentioning on…

Homemade Face Wipes

I mentioned in my Baby Wipes post a little while ago that I have a totally separate container and recipe to use on Miss G’s face and hands. The main reason is that she likes to lick when I wipe her face, and that the essential oils that I use in the baby wipes aren’t…

Scarborough Fair Herb Mix

“Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme; Remember me to the one who lives there, For once she was a true love of mine” They say that variety can be the spice of life, but I reckon it’s the other way round. Spice (and herbs) are the variety of life, and…

Chocolate Mudcake with White Chocolate Ganache

Today’s post is about chocolate cake, and lots of it! I was asked to make a cake for CTO’s cousin Miss A’s confirmation by my sister-in-law, and my only guides from Miss A was that she likes chocolate and her favourite colours are blue and green. I did a Pinterest search for inspiration, and this…

Sweet Chilli Cream Cheese Dip

Is anybody else a big fan of those Chilli Philly pourovers? My CTO and I love them, but always have trouble getting a good chilli sauce/Philly ratio. We eat it out of the tub gradually and don’t actually tip it upside down like we’re supposed to, so we always have hardly any sauce at the…