A visit to our city library by Kim McCosker

Last week I had the pleasure of hearing Kim McCosker of 4 Ingredients fame, talk about her journey into the world of publishing and how her persistence and perseverance paid off. Kim lights up the room when she bursts in and is friendly and caring as a person and entertaining and captivating as a speaker.

 

Before Kim began to speak I asked her if it was okay to take photos for my blog and before I knew it she had grabbed me and a plate of the Christmas cake she had brought along, had given my camera to the City Librarian and a photo was taken of us without further ado with a reminder to email her the link to the post on my blog. I'm not used to things moving so fast! I must be in retirement mode already. :-)





 

 

As I said, Kim is an entertaining speaker and had no problem holding the attention of the audience as she shared how she had built up 4 Ingredients over the years. Her goal was to provide busy mums  with quick and easy recipes and she had an amazing story to tell about how she has achieved that which you can read here.

 

 

Kim's hard work has paid off and she has published a number of books including Diabetes, Australia's number 1 selling non-fiction book in 2008. Diabetes is part of Kim's 'Wellness Trilogy' with the other two books being Allergies and Gluten Free Lactose Free.   

 

Kim was born in Stanthorpe so she is a local girl and the City Librarian, Carmel Stewart, presented her with a gift of some local produce at the end of the presentation.

 

Then it was time for a book signing and a few photos of Kim, a young mum and her little girl and Carmel before Kim headed off to the next event. I ran into her again about an hour later at Big W where she was setting up a display of her books. I had forgotten to ask for her email address so she gave me her card and I emailed her office in Caloundra but didn't really expect a reply so close to Christmas. 

 

Later on I had a look around the 4 Ingredients website and was surprised at the number of books that Kim has written as well as eBooks. Her Best Sellers are Gluten Free Lactose Free, ThermoStruck - the Complete Thermo Cookbook and One Pot One Bowl.

 

Source

 

She also has recipes to try and I will be making her Healthy Hummus in the next few days. This recipe is from the Fresh & Healthy category.

  

 

  

Last week Kim's very helpful office manager, Melinda, rang me. We had a chat and she kindly sent me the recipe for this yummy fruitcake which is featured in 4 Ingredients Menu Planning.

 

Source

 

In 4 Ingredients Menu Planning, Kim has a small lightbulb symbol - and her lightbulb moment for this recipe is ...

 

Over the past five years, I'd guess I have made over 1,000 fruit cakes (yes you did read right, 1000)! The ultimate trick to a flavourful, moist fruit cake is to bake long and low ... A long time, on low heat and everyone will think you have been bakin' like the CWA women for YEARS! 

 

So if you have been gifted with lots of chocolate and have some mixed dried fruit left over from Christmas cooking then this is the recipe for you.

Fruitcake

 

Serves 16

• 2 tablespoons (16g) instant coffee
• 1kg mixed dried fruit
• 150g fruit and nut chocolate, roughly chopped
• 2 cups (350g) self-raising flour 

Makes 2 cups (500ml) of coffee by stirring the instant coffee into boiling water. Into a large bowl, add the dried fruit, pour over the coffee and soak overnight. Preheat the oven to 125C. Line a 22cm cake tin with baking paper. Mix the chocolate into the fruit and add the flour. Stir until well combined. Spoon the thick batter into the cake tin and place in the bottom third of your oven. Bake for 2 1/2 hours or until cooked through.

Do have a look at the 4 Ingredients website and read Kim's story and I am sure you will be inspired by what she has achieved. Check out the Recipes 4 You section too. I am sure you will find something there that you would love to try.