Ham, Veg and Egg Slice

We've reached the point of the year where I'm a bit over cooking to be completely honest!

Dinner needs to be on the table every night and it's got to be quick, easy and relatively nutritious.

This is so simple it's barely a recipe but it's something I make really often. 

Either for a quick dinner using up leftover veggies. 

Or I'll make it on a Sunday so I've got my own lunch sorted for the week.

Use whatever cooked veggies you have on hand. Throw in some herbs. Use ham, bacon, tinned salmon or leftover chicken or sausages. 

Ham, Veg and Egg Slice

3-4 cups worth of leftover steamed veggies (I had potato and broccoli)
A few slices of ham, chopped
8 eggs
1/3 cup milk of your choice
splash of extra virgin olive oil
A handful of nutritional yeast flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional - a drop of Basil or Cilantro essential oils

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and lightly grease a baking dish.

Roughly chop the veggies and layer into the baking dish. Add the ham.

In a medium jug whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, salt and pepper.

Pour over the veggies and sprinkle the yeast flakes over the top.

Bake for approx 40 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Serve hot, warm or cold. 

Delicious!

How would this go for dinner at your place? xx

Raspberry Jelly Ice Blocks

Summer has well and truly arrived here in Brisbane. It's steamy and sticky, the kind of weather where you're still sweating when you step out of a cold shower!

All that really means though is it's DEFINITELY ice block weather.

I've been making batch after batch of ice blocks and icy poles for the kids these holidays, nothing particularly fancy. Often just whatever fruit we haved whizzed up or even just fruit juice with coconut water.

We have a gorgeous set of stainless steel ice block moulds and a couple of sets of silicone icy pole moulds. These are much better options than plastic, even if they say BPA free.

These jelly ice blocks were an experiment, hoping they would fill the kids up a little with the addition of protein-rich gelatin plus, being jelly, they don't drip so much! A big plus when they start melting the instant they come out of the freezer.

I love the combo of raspberry and orange but you could use whatever fruit and juice you have. I added a couple of drops of Wild Orange essential oil to pump up the flavour, but that's totally optional (delicious though!).

The first batch I made I didn't bother straining the mixture but the kids definitely preferred it strained and seed-free.

If you make them let me know what you think!

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Raspberry Jelly Ice Blocks

1 cup fresh orange juice
2 cups frozen raspberries, thawed
1-2 tbs sweetener of choice (I use rice malt syrup)
2 ts good quality gelatin (I use Changing Habits or Great Lakes)
2-3 drops Wild Orange essential oil

Place the juice, raspberries and sweetener into your food processor or Thermomix and blitz for about 10 seconds until well combined.

Pour into a saucepan and set over low heat. Once just warm (not hot), sprinkle over the gelatin and leave for 1 minute. Using a whisk, whisk the jelly mixture until smooth.

Strain into a pouring jug, then pour into your ice block moulds.

Place into the freezer to set.

Enjoy!

Susan xx

Easy Apricot Ice Cream (Dairy Free)

We were lucky enough to score a big box of apricots for just $4 during the week! Now I love apricots but it did have me scratching my head wondering what on earth we would do with we would do with them.

I made a big batch of apricot chia jam (delicious!) and then decided to make some ice cream.

Rather than fuss around making a custard, I decided to start with the easiest ever ice cream, which is essentially just frozen fruit, coconut cream and a little sweetener.

It is soft-serve consistency straight away but you can also freeze until firm so you can scoop it.

So easy, so tasty and perfectly refreshing in this stinking hot weather at the moment.

I added a few essential oils to boost the apricot flavour but that's totally optional. A drop of cinnamon would be too much in this recipe, so just grab a toothpick and swirl it through your ice cream before giving it a final blitz to incorporate.

Feel free to use a different sweetener depending what you have on hand, and also to adjust the amount depending on how ripe and sweet your apricots are.

Remember you need to start this ice cream the day before you want to eat it. Enjoy!

Easiest Ever Apricot Ice Cream

500g ripe sweet apricots (weighed with stones removed)
1 x tin Ayam coconut cream (chilled overnight)
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 drops wild orange essential oil (optional)
1 toothpick of cinnamon essential oil, swirled through (optional)

Slice the apricots into quarters and freeze overnight in a single layer on a baking tray. Place your coconut cream into the fridge to chill at the same time.

When you are ready to prepare your icecream, place all ingredients into your food processor or Thermomix and process until as smooth as you like. I left a few chunks of apricot for texture.

While this apricot ice cream was completely delicious I have to say my all-time favourite ice cream flavour is choc mint and you can find my recipe here!

What's your favourite ice cream? xx

Raw Chocolate with Chai and Cashews

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

At our place the 1st of December is all about Christmas - the tree goes up, the Christmas music goes on and we start our nightly tradition of reading a different Christmas book each night with the kids. Love it!

On Facebook, I'm starting a 12 days of DIY Christmas gifts series today with a selection of recipes using our beautiful essential oils. Hop on over and like My Wholefood Family Essentials to get inspired and play along! 

One of my favourite ways to use my oils is to flavour my food, especially anything chocolate.

So given my chai obsession at the moment I've adapted my basic raw chocolate recipe and made this amazing chai chocolate with cashews!

If you like the warm, sweet spiciness of chai you will LOVE this chocolate. These spice oils are warming for our bodies, can aid digestion and are packed with antioxidants. And of course it tastes AMAZING!

Raw Chocolate with Chai and Cashews

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup raw cashews
pinch salt
2 drops Ginger essential oil
2 drops Cardamom essential oil
2 drops Wild Orange essential oil
1 drop Cinnamon essential oil
1 drop Black Pepper essential oil

Place the coconut oil, cacao powder, salt and maple syrup in a small pan over low heat and stir until smooth and well combined. Remove from the heat and add the cashews and essential oils. Mix well and pour the mixture into a lined 20cm baking pan or a silicone cake pan and place in the freezer to set. Once firm (it doesn't take long at all), break into pieces and store in an airtight container in the freezer.

As this chocolate contains coconut oil it will melt if left at room temperature. You can see in the photo that it was already starting to melt! 

I only use and trust doTERRA essential oils to use at home and in our food. To get your hands on some please leave me a comment below or read this post on how to get started with essential oils! 

Susan xx

Warm and Spicy Coconut Quinoa Porridge

When I decided to go gluten-free, I did it cold turkey.

One day I ate gluten and the next I didn't. Simple as that.

Don't get me wrong though there was a lot of preparation involved in that decision and I made sure I was completely stocked up on foods I could eat. But having that line drawn in the sand made things easier for me mentally so I didn't get stressed about eating something I 'shouldn't' because I was trying to cut out gluten.

One thing I never really got a good substitute for was porridge.

I LOVE porridge and have since I was a kid. It's just so comforting, so filling, so adaptable in terms of flavour and it really is the perfect tummy warmer on a cold Winter's morning.

So with that in mind I got serious about finding a decent porridge alterative. Not something that was just ok, but something that was totally delicious and I would look forward to eating.

This coconut quinoa porridge is IT!

I think in the past I have always overcooked whatever gluten-free grain I was trying so it became mushy and stodgy and pretty unpleasant.

This takes literallly 5 minutes to prepare and I've done it old-school in a pot on the stove, partly because both our Thermomix jugs were dirty at the time so I had to, but also because it's so quick and I love a one-pot wonder.

Using essential oils to flavour my food is my favourite way to use them and they give you incredible pure flavour.

The cinnamon and ginger are very warming for the body which is exactly what I need given I feel the cold so much as a result of my dodgy thyroid.

Don't be tempted to half the amounts of coconut milk and quinoa and still use 1 full drop of each of these oils because it's too much!

You can dip a toothpick into your oil bottle and swirl it through your porridge at the end if you prefer.

So there you have it, my new favourite Winter breakfast.

Enjoy!

Warm & Spicy Coconut Quinoa Porridge

2 cups coconut milk
2 ts coconut oil
pinch salt
2/3 cup quinoa flakes
1 drop Ginger essential oil
1 drop Cinnamon essential oil
2 drop Wild Orange essential oil
blueberries, raw almonds and maple syrup

Place the coconut milk, oil and salt into a small saucepan and heat until it just starts to boil.

Add the quinoa flakes, stir and cover. Turn off the heat and leave for 5 minutes.

Spoon into your serving bowls. Top with a handful of blueberries, some roughly chopped raw almonds and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Serves 2

Are you a porridge person? x

No-bake Popcorn Slice

As much as I enjoy baking, when life get busy often the LAST thing I feel like doing is turning on the oven and cooking!

That's when no-bake treats are perfect and let me tell you, I'm building quite the repertoire.

Popcorn is a regular afternoon tea at our place. Air-popped popcorn + melted butter = happy kids!

I wanted to mix it up a little this week though so I decided to turn their popcorn into something a bit more special.

This is such a flexible recipe. You could replace the tahini and rice malt syrup with peanut butter and honey, or almond butter and maple syrup (I would use a less honey or maple syrup though as it would be very sweet). Use different dried fruit, replace with dark chocolate chips or just leave it out. So good!

No-bake Popcorn Slice

1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup rice malt syrup
pinch salt
40g natural dried apricots or dates, roughly chopped
5 cups popped corn (around 2 tbs unpopped)

Line a square brownie pan with baking paper and set aside.

Mix tahini, syrup, salt and dates together in a large bowl.

Add the popcorn and mix well to coat.

Pour into prepared pan and press down well with your hands.

Place into the fridge to firm up a little.

Cut or tear into 16 squares.

Enjoy!

3 Ingredient Peppermint Chocolate Crackles

If you're looking for something easy and tasty to make with the kids this Easter, then look no further!

Not only are they a 3-ingredient, 1-bowl wonder, there's no yucky copha in sight.

3 Ingredient Peppermint Chocolate Crackles

200g dairy free dark chocolate (Lindt 70% for the kids or 85% for the adults)
3 cups gluten-free rice bubbles
3-5 drops doTERRA Peppermint Essential Oil*

Roughly chop the chocolate and place it in a large glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Once the chocolate is melted, add the peppermint oil and stir through.

Add the rice bubbles and fold through until well coated.

Spoon the mixture into paper or silicone cupcake wrappers.

Place in the fridge to set. Try not to eat them all at once.

I got 15 from this batch but it depends how much you fill each case.

* Don't like peppermint? The only limit is your imagination! Wild Orange, Grapefruit, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Lime ... go crazy and experiment with your favourite flavours! For more information about how to purchase the oils I use please read this!

My boys went nuts for these and they pretty much made them all by themselves.

Do you have any Easter treats you make with your kids?

Cacao, Cranberry and Orange Bliss Balls

Years ago, before we had kids and still when my eldest was little we used to buy tons of dried fruit as a 'healthy' snack. Not realising that dried fruit is such a concentrated source of sugar and that most commercial dried fruit contains a preservative called sulphur dioxide which is linked to asthma and respiratory distress, and if you have a sulphite allergy, can actually be fatal.

Jeez, what a downer hey?

I was totally shocked when I first heard about this and I remember going through the pantry to check each and every packet of dried fruit we had. And sure enough, it was on every. single. label.

Looking back it now makes sense that I would feel a tightness in my chest and start to cough every time I ate dried apricots. But at the time I never really made the connection because I knew I wasn't allergic to apricots.

These days we choose not to eat much dried fruit.And when we do we are treating it as a source of sweetness for recipes rather than 'this is healthy so let's eat the whole packet.'

Generally I make bliss balls without any added fruit, preferring to use rice malt syrup as a fructose free sweetener.

But I've had a packet of organic dried cranberries sitting in the pantry since Christmas and it was high time to use them up, so I came up with these bliss balls. The cranberries are still dried with sugar but it is all organic and they don't contain any preservatives.

Anyone who has tasted these bliss balls has immediately asked for the recipe, so that's a sure sign of a winner!

Cacao, Cranberry and Wild Orange Bliss Balls

220g raw almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
6 dried dates
4 tbs coconut oil
1 heaped tbs cacao powder
pinch salt
5 drops Wild Orange essential oil
desiccated coconut for rolling

Place all ingredients into a food processor or high powered blender and blitz until the mixture sticks together (TMX about 10 secs / SP 8).

Shape into balls and roll in desiccated coconut.

Makes approximately 12.

Do you make bliss balls? What's your favourite recipe? Let me know below!

Susan

Gluten-free Corn Fritters

My grandmother was a great cook. Nothing especially fancy but the sort of homemade, stick to your ribs, oh-so-tasty fare that grandmothers are renowned for.

Her jam tarts in particular were spectacular!

But it was her corn fritters that seem to have stuck in my mind most clearly.

I had gone with her and friend for a week's stay on Tangalooma, a family-friendly resort on an island about an hour's boat trip away. We were in a downstairs garden apartment with a small kitchen where we could cook for ourselves and not have to eat out all the time.

I can so vividly remember coming in from the beach all wet and sandy to the smell of corn fritters frying and then burning my tongue eating them as soon as they came out of the pan.

There's just something about that combination of sweet and salty, crispy fried outside and soft fluffy middle that I can't resist!

These days no one in my family apppreciates a corn fritter quite as much as I do but they are a family favourite nonetheless.

You can think of these as a savoury pancake and top them any way you like.

I shared on Facebook during the week that I had leftover fritters topped with some smoked trout and sauerkraut (haha I just realised as I wrote it down that it rhymes!) for lunch the next day.

My kids also love them topped with crispy bacon and maple syrup. SO good!

Gluten-free Corn Fritters

2 cups gluten free plain flour
3 ts gluten free baking powder
1/2 ts salt
2 eggs
1 x 400g tin corn, drained
3/4 cup rice milk
Oil for shallow frying (Olive oil, coconut oil or ghee is great for these)

Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and whisk together. Add the eggs, corn and milk and fold together with a spatula until well combined. (You may need slightly more or less milk than this, it seems to vary with every batch and probably depends also how well drained your corn is).

Preheat your frying pan over medium-high heat. Add enough oil to generously cover the base of the pan. When it starts to shimmer you are ready to fry.

Dollop spoonfuls of mixture into the pan and flatten out slightly. Fry for about 3 minutes then flip and fry on the other side until crisp, golden brown and cooked through.

Remove from the pan and place onto a wire rack over a baking tray. This ensures the fritters stay crisp on the bottom (nothing worse than a soggy bottom!)

Repeat with remaining mixture.

Makes approximately 16.

Are there any foods you feel really nostalgic about from your childhood?

Let me know below!

Susan

Peanut Butter Loaf (SRC)

It's Secret Recipe Club time again! Is it just me or does it seem like each month is going by faster and faster these days? For those counting there are only 4 more SRC reveals until Christmas!!

Anyway, for those who are new here, every month SRC members are assigned a blog in secret to choose a recipe from, then we all post on the same day. Today is reveal day for group C.

This month I was assigned Our Eating Habits by Jamie - a Disney-obsessed, Christmas-loving mother of 3 from Calgary. Jamie actually had my blog last month so it was extra fun looking through hers this month. Jamie also homeschools her kids which I find so fascinating because that's pretty rare here in Australia. She has also posted loads of restaurant reviews which I had a look through even though I am on the other side of the world!

Jamie has so many recipes to choose from that she has divided her recipe index into 2 categories - cooking and baking. I started making a list of possible recipes but it got a little out of hand so I will share just a few that caught my eye.

Firstly, my kids would go crazy for Spaghetti Tacos, this Sweet Shepherd's Pie is a great twist on a classic, I'm always looking for interesting vegetable side dishes and the Broccoli with Asian Garlic Sauce and Cumin Honey Carrots sound delicious, and lastly Kung Pao Chicken which I've never seen on a menu here but it always seems to feature on American TV shows for some reason.

I moved over to the baking section and bookmarked these Molasses Muffins. Then I noticed Jamie has not one, but two recipes for peanut butter loaf - Amish Peanut Butter Loaf and Peanut Butter Loaf. I've never heard of this before but we love our peanut butter around here so I had to give it a try!

Basically this is exactly what it sounds like, a loaf cake made with peanut butter. If you love peanuts and peanut butter, this loaf is for you!

I'm still doing my gluten-free experiment so I made it gluten free and swapped out the sugar for rice malt syrup as well. I also added a scattering of peanuts over the the top for some extra crunch.

This was a huge hit with my boys! Seriously, my husband missed out completely because it was completely devoured for afternoon tea before he got home. I used my own blend of gluten free flour and it made a moist, chewy loaf with a crispy crust. So delicious! I was imagining it would be amazing toasted but it didn't last long enough for me to find out! Guess I will just have to make it again.

We usually buy freshly ground natural peanut butter but we only had peanuts in the pantry so I made my own peanut butter for this recipe. I used the Thermomix but any high powered blender or food processor will work. If you are using regular peanut butter you might want to adjust the amount of sugar or salt you use in the loaf.

Homemade Peanut Butter

160g roasted natural peanuts
15g coconut oil

Place the peanuts into the Thermomix bowl and chop 15 seconds / SP 8. Scrape down the sides, add the coconut oil and process for 6 seconds / SP 6. Makes exactly 2/3 cup needed for this recipe.

Peanut Butter Loaf - Gluten, Dairy and Fructose Free
Adapted from here and here

2/3 cup natural peanut butter
110g rice malt syrup
1 cup rice milk
2 cups gluten free plain flour
1 tbs gluten free baking powder
1/4 ts sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees F. Grease and line a standard loaf pan with baking paper and set aside.

Beat together the peanut butter, syrup and milk until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and fold through until well combined.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack before serving sliced with strawberry jam.

Thank you for a great recipe, Jamie - this one is a keeper!

An InLinkz Link-up

One-bowl Banana Bread

When I first got into cooking again as an adult I was all about trying new things, sourcing new ingredients and making every meal spectacular. I now have 3 young children and while I still want delicious food, my priorities have definitely changed!

What I look for now is - how long is this going to take me to make when I have a dozen other things I need to do right now? how many ingredients do I need to search for in the supermarket when I have a fussy, whingy toddler in the trolley trying to grab everything off the shelves? will my kids actually eat this or am I wasting my time?

One-pot dinners and one-bowl bakes - those words are music to my ears!

While I have made a hundred different banana breads this one is my simplest yet. Real ingredients, nothing fancy and just one bowl. Hallelujah.

I did this in the Thermomix (which to me is the epitome of one-bowl cooking) but a large bowl, a fork and a spoon will do the job just as well.

My husband scored a 15kg box of bananas for just $7 on the weekend so we have bananas coming out our ears at the moment. Most of these have been peeled and frozen so I am down to the last couple of bunches which are getting nice and brown and spotty, perfect for banana bread.

So here you go, the simplest wholefood banana bread around. This recipe is a keeper!

One-Bowl Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas (250g peeled)
2 extra large eggs
1/3 cup oil (coconut, macadamia or olive oil)
1/3 cup sweetener (rice malt syrup, honey or maple syrup)
1/4 cup milk (rice, almond or coconut)
1 1/2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
3 ts baking powder
1 ts cinnamon
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius / 150 degrees fan-forced. Grease a loaf pan and line with baking paper.

In a large bowl mash the bananas, then add the eggs, oil and sweetener and beat together until smooth (TMX - 10 secs / SP 6).

Add the remaining ingredients and fold together until just combined (TMX - 10 secs / SP 3 - scrape down the sides and repeat if you need to).

Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until it is golden brown and the tops springs back when you press lightly.

Remove from the oven and leave in pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Delicious still warm from the oven or cold in lunchboxes.

Have you scored any amazing fruit and veg bargains lately?

What would you do with 15kg of bananas??

~ Susan

No Knead, Overnight Artisan Bread

I'm a huge fan of making bread these days, but it hasn't always been that way!

Not too many years ago I was terrified of using yeast. It just seemed all too hard and that there was so much that could go wrong.

My first step to making homemade bread was with a breadmaker and bread mix. All the hard work was done for us, there was no kneading, no shaping and no worrying about getting the oven temperature right. Plus I loved the convenience of being able to set it the night before and wake up to fresh bread first thing in the morning. Is there anything better than the smell of fresh bread??

We then moved on to just mixing and kneading the dough in the breadmaker but shaping and baking the dough ourselves. This meant we could make proper sandwich loaves and cob loaves rather than just the squat oblongs you can make in a breadmaker.

After lots of use our breadmaker finally gave up and died and we went back to buying supermarket and bakery bread, which was not ideal for a number of reasons - it's more expensive, it's not as fresh, and there are lots of questionable ingredients like preservatives, emulsifiers and vegetable oils to name a few.

But before we could fully commit to making all our own bread from scratch we took one important step - we cut back on the amount of bread we were eating.

Yep, that's right. 

I've dabbled with a Paleo style of eating and while going completely grain free is never going to work for my family, reducing grains (and especially wheat) can only be a positive step for our health.

I now make just 1 loaf of spelt and grain sandwich bread every week and that does sandwiches and toast for all of us for the week. I often also make one other type of bread, such as cheese and olive scrolls for lunchboxes or a focaccia to have with soup.

A few weeks ago we had friends around for breakfast and wanted to serve some fresh bread. I could have made an extra loaf the day before but it wouldn't have been as fresh, and as it was a public holiday there was no chance of nipping down to the bakery and grabbing a loaf that morning.

So I went searching and came across a basic recipe for a no knead, overnight artisan bread. This recipe seemed to pop up everywhere! With that many reviews I knew it had to be good and it was just what we were looking for.

If you're a novice bread-baker this recipe could be just the thing to help you fall in love with baking bread. Why?

1. It uses plain flour NOT baker's flour which you may not have at home
2. You don't have to knead it
3. You don't need a bread tin, just a large heavy oven safe pot with a lid

Just mix, rest and bake. Easy!

This made a fantastic loaf of bread - crackly crusty exterior with a chewy texture reminiscent of sourdough. Totally delicious and perfect for our breakfast of eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes and homemade tomato sauce. Yum!

 
No Knead, Overnight Artisan Bread
Recipe from Don't Waste The Crumbs

3 cups plain flour
2 ts salt
1 ts instant yeast
1 1/2 cups water, at room temperature

Stir together the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Pour in the water and mix well to form a rough and shaggy dough (it will not be smooth).

Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the bench for 8-18 hours, or just overnight. It will be light and bubbly.

When you are ready to bake, flour your hands and a sheet of baking paper and tip out the dough. Gently shape into a ball, without kneading, and leave on the baking paper covered with a tea towel for one hour.

When the dough has rested for 30 minutes, place a large heavy oven-safe pot (like a Dutch oven) into the oven and preheat to 230 degrees Celsius.

After the dough has rested for an hour, remove the pot from the oven and carefully place the dough inside, still on the baking paper.

Put the lid on the pot and place back into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and then bake for a further 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool completely for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

My Spelt, Cranberry and Oat Cookies (Thermomix)

I'm never quite sure where I stand in the cookies v biscuit debate. Being Australian I have always called them biscuits but now cookies seems to be more universally accepted. Especially if they have chocolate chips, or in this case cranberries.

Lately I've been baking up a storm but it's been weeks since I made any cookies. If you've been following me on Facebook you will have seen loaf after loaf of bread and several batches of hot cross buns recently and not much else!

Ever since I bought the Well Nourished Lunchbox (not an affiliate link - I'm just a huge fan), my go-to take-a-plate dish has been Georgia's Gruffalo Crumble Cake which is a banana cake with a spiced crumble topping. I encourage you to check out the book if you haven't already because this cake is a standout and I've had rave reviews from kids and adults alike for everything I've made from it. However we were completely out of bananas so instead I thought I would whip up some cookies to take to a play date last week.

The cookies were delightful. Tender, buttery and studded with tart and chewy cranberries. They are not overly sweet (which I liked) but if you are used to sweet things you could add a few tablespoons of your preferred sweetener. If you have coconut sugar it's caramel notes would work perfectly.

Spelt Cranberry and Oat Cookies (Thermomix)

120g butter, at room temperature
60g rice malt syrup
1 egg
1 ts vanilla extract
60g rolled oats
150g wholemeal spelt flour
100g dried cranberries
1/2 ts bicarb soda

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius / 150 degrees fan-forced. Line 2 trays with baking paper.

Place butter, syrup and vanilla into bowl and beat 10 secs / SP 5. Add all other ingredients (except cranberries) and mix for 10 secs / SP 4. Add cranberries and mix for 10 secs / SP 2 / REVERSE.

Place spoonfuls of mixture onto prepared tray leaving room to spread.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. They will firm up as they cool.

Makes 18

I think this will become a regular on our rotation as it is just so easy and also very adaptable. Use sultanas and add a teaspoon of cinnamon instead of the vanilla or add chocolate chips instead of fruit for a wholefood choc chip cookie. Yum.

Do you have a dish you are famous for? Or do you panic when asked to bring a plate?

My Mango Coconut Custard

We may be officially in Autumn now but it hasn't cooled down one bit and we are still blessed with an abundance of summer fruit.

We've eaten our fair share of mangoes over the past few months - the kids always argue over who gets the seed and there are now lots of t-shirts with faint orange stains down the front. The last few mangoes in the fruit bowl were calling my name this week and I was determined to make something with them rather then just watch them get gobbled up.

Mango and coconut are a match made in heaven. Being dairy-free we use a lot of coconut milk and cream in this house, sometimes as a substitution for dairy but other times like this you really want that creamy lusciousness. My first thought was to make ice cream but our freezer has been a little unreliable lately and I wasn't sure the ice cream bowl would be frozen enough for it to work.


Anyone with a Thermomix will tell you it makes great custard, so that's what I decided to do.  And the result? Well this mango coconut custard went down a treat on a hot Autumn-but-feels-like-Summer afternoon.

My kids had theirs for afternoon tea but it would be the perfect dessert to serve after a Asian or Indian meal. Cool, sweet, fragrant and just delicious.

Enjoy!

My Mango Coconut Custard

2 ripe mangoes
500g coconut milk
3 eggs
40g arrowroot
75g rice malt syrup
20g coconut oil

Reserve half a mango and set aside.

Add the flesh of 1 1/2 mangoes and the coconut milk to the mixing bowl and process for 10 seconds / SP 8 or until completely smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add all remaining ingredients.

Cook for 8 minutes / 90 degrees / SP 4.

Pour into heatproof glasses and place in the fridge to chill completely

To serve, top with reserved mango (finely diced) and garnish with mint leaves or lime zest (optional).

Serves 5

Baked Banana and Blueberry Pancake

So baked pancakes. Did you know that was a thing? We love pancakes and pikelets in this house. I love that you can pack them full of good stuff and the kids still eat them. The kids love them just because they taste good.

Most days though we just don't have time to stand at the stove and cook pancakes 4 at a time in a pan. Enter baked pancakes. You mix up all the same ingredients, pour them into a preheated pan and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or so while you go and do something else. Brilliant!

My version uses lots of eggs, wholemeal spelt flour and the sweetness of banana, blueberries and a small amount of coconut sugar. I took it out of the oven just before I left for school pick up so it was ready to eat as soon as we all got home.

This was a delicious afternoon tea for my boys but it would be a perfect weekend brunch as well.

Happy baking!

Baked Banana and Blueberry Pancake
Adapted from All Recipes

3 eggs
1 large very ripe banana
1 tbs coconut sugar
1 ts vanilla extract
1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
1 ts baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup blueberries
4 tbs butter or coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius / 180 degrees fan-forced. Add the butter or coconut oil to a 20 x 30cm baking dish and place the baking dish into the oven to preheat as well.

Place the eggs, banana, coconut sugar and vanilla into a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients (except the blueberries) and process for a few seconds until well combined, scraping down the sides if you need to.

Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and swirl it to coat the bottom evenly with the melted butter or coconut oil. Pour in the batter, scatter the blueberries over the top and return to the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes. It will be golden brown, puffed up and smell amazing.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before slicing or leave to cool completely and serve at room temperature.

melt butter or coconut oil in pan

bake for 20 -25 minutes

Pineapple Mango Salsa (SRC)

It's Secret Recipe Club time! I know it can't just be me, but the last Monday of the month seems to come around so quickly! Each month around 120 bloggers are assigned a blog in secret to peruse and choose a recipe to make. Today is Group D's turn to reveal their assigned blog and recipe.

This month I was thrilled to be assigned Fantastical Sharing of Recipes by Sarah who happens to be the fearless leader of the Secret Recipe Club. Sarah is married to Nick and they have 3 beautiful children, 2 cats and a dog. Definitely a full house! She is also a serious recipe hoarder and her blog is packed full of delicious sounding, family-friendly comfort food.

I liked the sound of the Atomic Hashbrowns but the kids aren't keen on spicy food so the Chubby Hubby Potatoes would be more their thing, though I've bookmarked both to try later. I was also really tempted by the 40 Clove Garlic Chicken and Classic Cabbage Rolls. But it is summer here after all and I just couldn't face any hot food so I started looking for something cool.

It has been stinking hot here the past few weeks. We've had a couple of 36 degree days (around 96 F) and it is just miserable being in the kitchen when it's that hot. So many times I've planned my meals for the week and then not made any of it because none of us felt like eating much. BUT not this time.

These barbecued pork chops topped with pineapple mango salsa were calling everyone's name. Is there anything more summery than this? (apologies to anyone knee-deep in snow right now).

Succulent pork was the perfect pairing for this light, fresh salsa. The kids loved having fruit for dinner and miracle of miracles, Mr 5 actually tried some pork! This is the kid that won't touch any meat except salami.

Thank you Sarah for such a simple but delicious recipe. This is one of our new family favourites.

Pineapple Mango Salsa
Recipe from Fantastical Sharing

1 1/2 cups fresh sweet pineapple, diced
1 mango, diced
1/2 red capsicum, finely diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
2 tbs fresh coriander roughly chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
pinch salt

Place all ingredients into a large glass bowl and toss to combine.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving with grilled meat.

An InLinkz Link-up

Curried Veggie Slice

A few weeks ago we realised our fridge was suddenly not cold anymore so I baked up a storm, trying to use up everything that I could before it went bad. This was one of the results and it was absolutely delicious!

It's basically my take on a classic zucchini slice. Unfortunately not one of my children will eat zucchini slice, something I've found incredibly frustrating as it's such an easy meal and can be served hot for dinner or cold in lunchboxes.

I did have a small win with this recipe though, as after leaving out the bacon, swapping some of the veggies and adding some curry powder I called it a Curried Veggie Slice and my 6 year old loved it! Go figure.

I ate some for lunch straight away and froze the rest in single serves. It's been brilliant for my lunch on study days when I need something quick and filling.

Have you had any luck changing the name of something to get your kids to like it?

Curried Veggie Slice

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
450g grated vegetables (I used sweet potato, carrot and zucchini*)
6 eggs
50g extra virgin olive oil
100g wholemeal spelt flour (or rice flour to be gluten free)
1 ts baking powder
1 tbs veggie stock paste
1 ts curry powder
1 tbs nutritional yeast flakes (or a handful of grated cheese if not dairy free)

Grease and line a 20 x 30cm slice pan with baking paper and set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 160 degrees fan-forced.

In a small bowl beat the eggs, oil, stock paste, curry powder and nutritional yeast until well combined. Place all other ingredients into a large bowl. Pour the egg mixture over the top  and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until golden brown and just set.

Leave to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving or refrigerate until needed. Great for lunchboxes.

*make sure you squeeze out the excess liquid from the zucchini before adding it otherwise your mixture will be very wet and the slice won't bake properly.

My Bircher Muesli

Our kids have swimming at 8am every Sunday morning. Yep, we must be crazy! Actually it's not so bad. The classes are a little quieter at that time and let's be honest with young kids it's not like we ever get a sleep in!

Breakfast is important every day but on Sundays it's especially important as it has to be quick, easy and nourishing to give the boys lots of energy for their swim.

One of our favourites is bircher muesli aka overnight oats. Everyone has their own version of bircher muesli and this is mine. Unlike most others it does not include yoghurt or fruit juice, instead it has rice milk with cinnamon, red apple and raw honey for sweetness.

Adding seeds is a great way to increase the nutritional value - the sunflower seeds are a great source of vitamin E, magnesium and selenium, pumpkin seeds are especially high in zinc and chia seeds provide fibre, protein and omega 3s.  Oh and they taste great too!

This is a great alternative to cereal or porridge and the possible variations are endless.

My Bircher Muesli

2 cups rolled oats
4 cups rice milk
1 ts cinnamon
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 red apple, grated (per person)
raw honey to serve

Place the oats, milk cinnamon and seeds into a large bowl and stir to combine. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, serve up into bowls and top with grated apple and a drizzle of honey.

Enjoy!

Serves 4-6

Easy Pear Tea Cake

This cake has been a lifesaver recently when I've been asked to bring something to share for morning tea and have had very few ingredients to choose from. This is a really simple tea cake and while it might not be fancy it is absolutely delicious!

I have made it with pears, apples and blueberries and each one was sensational. Pears are in season right now though and their flavour really shines in this simple cake.

I'm hoping it freezes well as I will be making another one this week and freezing it to have for afternoon tea on moving day (7 days and counting - aaahhh!)

Easy Pear Tea Cake

1 1/2 cups wholemeal spelt flour
2 ts aluminium free baking powder
1/3 cup rice malt syrup
1 egg
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled*
1 ts vanilla extract
pinch salt
400g just ripe pears, peeled cored and diced
a squeeze of lemon
1 tbs coconut sugar
1 ts cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line the base of a 20cm (8 inch) round sping-form cake tin.

Peel, core and dice the pears and squeeze of some lemon juice, tossing to coat the pieces and prevent them from going brown.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add the syrup, egg, butter and vanilla and mix to combine. It will form a dough rather than a batter. Press 3/4 of the mixture into the base of the tin and then scatter over the pears. Scatter the remaining dough over the top of the pears, like a crumble topping.

Combine the coconut sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle liberally over the top of the cake.

Bake for approx 40 minutes until it is golden brown, pulling away from the edges and a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing the sides of pan and sliding onto your serving plate. It is very delicate when warm but would be delicious warm for dessert with cream.

*Dairy-free version - use coconut or macadamia oil in place of the melted butter.

Gluten-free Orange Shortbread Cookies

With citrus so abundant and so delicious at the moment I've been looking for different ways to use it. One of my favourite things is a whole orange and almond cake which I've been meaning to blog about for ages. Today though I felt like making biscuits and came up with these little gems.

I've been doing lots of experimenting with different flours for baking lately and while none of us have coeliac, I know I at least feel so much better when I limit the amount of gluten that I eat. You can buy some great gluten free flours these days but I prefer to make my own as it lets me choose the recipe that best suits what I am baking.

My top 2 gluten free flour recipes are from The Holistic Ingredient and Gluten-free-Girl.

For these shortbread cookies I used the Gluten-free-Girl recipe which gives a light, crisp and slightly crumbly result, perfect for shortbread. This one doesn't contain xanthan gum so I added a tablespoon of linseed meal which has similar properties.

You will notice there is a lot (a LOT) of butter in these cookies and as you mix them up you will probably see butter beginning to ooze out of the mixture. When I first made them I wondered whether I'd made a huge mistake but actually the end result is amazing and there is no extra butter to be seen - just perfect little shortbread cookies which are crisp, short and crumbly and beautifully fragrant from the orange zest. The house smelt spectacular while they were baking and made for a delicious afternoon snack with a cup of ginger tea.

Whether you need to be gluten free or not, with treats like these you certainly won't feel like you are missing out!

Gluten free Orange Shortbread Cookies

2 1/4 cups gluten-free plain flour
1 tbs linseed meal
1 ts baking powder
1/2 cup coconut sugar
zest of 1 large orange
1 ts vanilla extract
250g salted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line 2 trays with baking paper and set aside.

Place the dry ingredients into a large bowl and add the orange zest. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the flour mix until well combined. Add the wet ingredients and mix well.

Roll into small balls and place on the prepared trays. They don't spread very much so they can be placed quite closely together.

Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for approx 12 minutes. They will be golden brown and firm to touch. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before placing on wire racks to cool completely.

Makes approximately 30 cookies.