Grain-free Choc Cranberry Cookies

These are a very simple adaptation of the Grain-free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies which our family is so in love with. Seriously, I have lost count of how many batches I have made with the intention of freezing them for after-school snacks, only to find that they disappear almost before they have cooled down!

Cranberry and chocolate is always a winning combination but the coconut in these also shines through. They are moist, chewy and chocolatey with a nice little zing from the cranberries. They are only slightly sweet, which my kids are used to, but if you're not you may want to up the sweetness, perhaps with a few drops of liquid stevia which will add sweetness without affecting the consistency of the dough.

We've been having a heat wave here for the past few weeks but some overnight rain has brought a cool change so I have been baking up a storm and even made a batch of curried pumpkin soup for lunch (recipe to come).

Grain-Free Choc Cranberry Cookies

Follow the recipe for Grain-free Oatmeal Raising Cookies but replace the spice with 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and use dried cranberries instead of raisins. Shape and bake as usual. Enjoy!

Tater Tot Shepherd's Pie (SRC)

Happy New Year! And happy Australia Day to all my fellow Aussies! Hard to believe we are already at the end of January. Christmas seems like a distant memory, school starts tomorrow and we have our first Secret Recipe Club post for 2015!

I am so excited for another year of SRC. For those who are new, each month we are assigned a blog in secret to peruse, choose a recipe from and post on the same day. Today is the reveal day for Group D.

This month I was assigned Baking and Creating with Avril. Avril describes her food as 'nothing too fancy but always made with love and happiness'. I love this! I headed straight to the kid-friendly section and found so many recipes that my kids would love like the Blueberry Pie Pancakes, Cookie Sticks and Yummy Zucchini Cookies and I've bookmarked them to try.

I'm always on the lookout for dinner ideas though and was really tempted by Avril's Risotto and Beef Stuffed Tomatoes but when I saw a recipe called (Carrie's Famous) Tater Tots Shepherd's Pie I just had to check it out. I mean who is Carrie and why is it famous? I also had no idea what tater tots were and quickly learned they are the same as potato gems here in Australia!

In her post Avril describes how her friend Carrie made this casserole while they were away for a week's holiday as a part of a group of 9 girlfriends and their 7 children. How awesome would that have been? I am definitely raising the idea of a girls' week away with my friends!

The classic shepherd's pie has mashed potato on top but strangely none of my kids are that keen on mashed potato, whereas I could eat it by the bowlful. They do however, absolutely adore potato gems/tater tots and we do get them as a treat every now and then. So how could we go wrong with a shepherd's pie topped with potato gems!

I couldn't resist making one change to the recipe and that was to add something tomato-y to the meat. I used a tin of condensed tomato soup and loved the flavour but it did make the bottoms of the potato gems a little mushier than how they appeared to be in the original recipe. No matter, it was delicious! Rich savoury mince with corn, cheese and crunchy topped potato gems. Just divine and a perfect kids meal.

(Carrie's Famous) Tater Tot Shepherd's Pie
Adapted from Baking and Creating with Avril

1.5kg beef mince
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 can condensed tomato soup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 can creamed corn
1 can sweet corn, drained
1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 bag frozen Tater Tots (Potato Gems)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F.

Over medium heat, saute chopped onion in a little oil until soft. Add in the beef mince and cook until well browned, then turn off the heat and drain any extra grease. Stir in the tomato soup, garlic salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Pour the meat mixture into a 9 x13 baking dish, then spoon over the creamed corn and drained can of sweet corn. Sprinkle a layer of grated cheese over corn, layer frozen tater tots over grated cheese and then sprinkle with more cheese to finish.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (check after 20 minutes to make sure casserole is not getting too brown).

Thanks for a brilliant recipe Avril (and Carrie). We all loved it!

An InLinkz Link-up

Mud Monster Smoothie

Why is it that kids eat so much on holidays?? I just can't seem to fill mine up these days and I'm constantly replying to 'Mummy I'm hungry' with 'but you just ate 10 minutes ago!'

Smoothies have been a real lifesaver. I can cram them full of nutritious ingredients and the kids love them because they taste so good.

A few years I jumped on the green smoothie bandwagon with a vengeance and ended up with my IBS symptoms flaring up to be the worst they had been in more than a decade. I think a combination of too much fruit and the wrong type of protein powder were to blame. Being dairy free I was using a vegan pea protein which I later learned can indeed cause digestive issues. I was never comfortable giving it to the kids either and with good reason.

After much research I stumbled across Thriving Protein by Nutra Organics which is a blend of different protein sources like sprouted brown rice as well as red algae and high vitamin D mushroom powder. It is packed with protein and essential vitamins and minerals and provides a complete amino acid profile. It's good stuff!

There are 3 flavours to choose from and after some experimentation the CacaoChoc one is my kids favourite (although they do drink all 3). This smoothie has been their snack of choice lately and while it definitely doesn't look pretty (hence the name they came up with!) it does taste delicious!

I've been so impressed with Thriving Protein I have actually signed up with NutraOrganics as an affiliate so if you purchase after clicking a link on my page I will receive a small commission (thank you!)




My boys love this smoothie and the fact it looks like slime or monster mud makes it just that much more appealing for them!
 
Mud Monster Smoothie
Per serve:

1 cup very cold milk (we use organic rice milk or homemade almond-sunflower seed milk)
1/2 frozen banana
1 tbs chia seeds
1 tbs CacaoChoc Thriving Protein
1 handful baby spinach OR 1 leaf kale with stem removed

Place all ingredients into the thermomix or other high powered blender and blitz for 1 minute or until thick and smooth and completely blended. Pour into a glass, add a straw and drink!

Serves 1

Grain-free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

 

If you're anything like me you have tons of recipes marked to try - ripped out of magazines, bookmarked, pinned or printed out. I had been meaning to make these little bites of awesomeness from Against All Grain for ages and you should definitely follow Danielle on Facebook if you don't already!

We devoured this batch in record time. They were sweet, spicy, chewy and delicious. Exactly what you expect from an oatmeal raisin cookie and even the most hardened gluten addict (I'm looking at my husband here) wouldn't miss the grain. I've had problems with my coconut oil based cookies spreading lately so even though the recipe said to press them down I only gave them the teeniest little press with my fingers and of course they didn't spread at all! So we have been calling them oatmeal raisin balls and pretending that's how they are supposed to be.

I will be making 2 batches of these as part of my back to school baking over the next couple of weeks and stashing them straight in the freezer ready for lunchbox treats and after school snacks.

These were so SO good and I'm wishing I had one (or 3) right now!

Grain-free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Adapted from Against All Grain

1/4 cup coconut oil, liquid
3 tbs honey or maple syrup
1 ts vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tbs mixed spice (or 4 ts cinnamon plus 3/4 ts nutmeg)
1 cup almond meal
2 tbs coconut flour
1/2 ts bicarb soda
1/4 ts sea salt
2 ts chia seeds
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced / 350 degrees fahrenheit. Line 2 trays with baking paper and set aside.

In a small bowl mix the coconut oil, honey, egg and vanilla together until well combined.

In a large bowl mix together the spice, flours, bicarb soda, salt, chia seeds and coconut.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together until just combined.

Fold through the raisins.

Roll golf ball sized balls of dough and place on the prepared trays, making 16 cookies. Press down lightly on each cookie with your palm or the bottom of a glass.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes on the trays before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 16.

Happy New Year! and Indulgent Chocolate Fudge Cake

Happy New Year!!! Hopefully everyone had a great time last night and there aren't too many sore heads around this morning. We had a very quiet one last night. The kids stayed up a little later than usual and we drove to a great spot to check out the 8pm fireworks and then once they were tucked in bed hubby and I watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

2015 is going to be a big year for all of us, both personally and professionally and I look forward to sharing it with you here.

I'm not one for setting resolutions (as I have a tendancy to break them and then feel guilty about breaking them before even a week of January has passed) but I have been inspired by Deb of Inner Compass Designs and am setting a word of the year. My guiding word for 2015 is connect and for me it is all about connecting with things that make me happier, healthier and a better mum. Watch this space!

This amazing chocolate cake fits perfectly my style of cooking at the moment and is so seriously indulgent that it really should only be made for a special occasion. If you want to impress your friends at your next dinner party or a special someone for Valentine's Day then pin this recipe. You will not be disappointed!

It is grain free, dairy free and refined sugar free and yet tastes like the most decadent chocolate-y cake ever. I made only slight changes to the original recipe by adding vanilla (because everything tastes better with vanilla) and some sea salt (because chocolate and salt are a perfect match) but I can see possibilities for other flavours like adding some orange peel or peppermint extract. Delicious!

Indulgent Chocolate Fudge Cake
Very slightly adapted from Wholefood Simply

400 grams dark chocolate, roughly broken into pieces
1 cup of full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 ts vanilla extract
5 eggs, bring to room temperature
1 tablespoon coconut flour, sifted
1 generous pinch sea salt

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius / 130 degrees fan-forced / 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and line a loaf tin measuring approx 19.5cm x 9.5cm (mine is pyrex).

Bring a jug full of water to the boil.

Place the chocolate, coconut milk and maple syrup into a medium saucepan and stir over low heat until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla and then set aside while you prepare the remainder of the cake.

Whisk the eggs until well combined. Whisk in the sifted flour and salt.

Stir the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until well combined.

Place the loaf tin into a deep roasting dish. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Pour the hot water into the roasting dish until the water level is half way up the sides of the loaf tin (I do this once the tray is already in the oven to save carrying a big dish of hot water).

Bake for one hour. Remove from the oven but leave in the tin to cool to room temperature then place in the fridge overnight.

Once completely chilled, remove from the tin, slice and serve.

Christmas Menu 2014

Image Source

Writing this post has become an annual thing for me now and it's really helpful to have all my ideas in one place, and to be able to look back on what worked and what didn't for the following year.

This year we are hosting dinner on Christmas Eve and then heading down to my mother-in-law's place for lunch on Christmas Day.

For the first time we are doing a predominantly cold Christmas lunch. It makes a lot of sense given the climate here and I love seafood, but I will miss the roast turkey (and all the leftovers that go along with it). I'm already thinking though that we will buy a turkey after Chistmas when everything is on sale and do a roast for New Years Day instead.

Christmas Eve

Nibbles
Crackers, fruit, cheese, pate and chocolates

Main
Slow cooked lamb shanks with rosemary and redcurrants
Roast vegetable mash
Steamed seasonal greens

Dessert
Christmas Pudding
Dairy free custard


Christmas Day

Breakfast
Coconut and mango parfaits

Entree
Seafood platter with smoked salmon, tiger prawns and accompaniments

Main
Lemon myrtle chicken
Roast potatoes
Barbecued side of salmon
Quinoa salad
Beans with cherry vinagrette

Dessert
Lemon curd and raspberry jelly trifle
Fruit salad

This is my last post for 2014. I am going to unplug and have as little screen time as possible for the next few weeks (although I still have lots of study to cram in!).

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday. See you in 2015! xx

Coconut Oil Dark Chocolate and Nut Cookies

Regular readers will know just how much I love being part of Secret Recipe Club. It's not just about the fun of revealing the blog you've been secretly perusing all month, it's also checking out what everyone else has made and let me tell you, I've found some absolute gems!

This cookie recipe was revealed last month by Kim at Feed Me Seymour and she tweaked the original recipe found on Life on Food. I love how recipes evolve like this!

I've been doing lots of baking with coconut oil over the past few months but never cookies. It's also brilliant to fry with and I always add a teaspoonful to Noah's porridge every morning (he needs extra good fats because he is dairy free).

I used dark chocolate chips which are naturally dairy free in this recipe, along with a nut and seed mixture rather than the original pistachios simply because that's what I had on hand. You can see a pumpkin seed front and centre in the photo below.

It's been really hot here lately which means my coconut oil was completely liquid at room temperature. The recipe said to chill the dough after it was rolled into balls but I decided to chill it before rolling as well. Unfortunately I then forgot to chill them after rolling and stuck them straight in the oven and they spread a lot.

No matter, they were absolutely sensational! Sweet, nutty and chewy and really more-ish. It's actually lucky there were any cookies left to photograph because I could not stop eating the dough. Seriously!

These cookies were a real winner in our house and we will definitely be making them again as soon as I stock up on chocolate chips :)

 

Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip and Nut Cookies

Slightly adapted from Feed Me Seymour

½ cup solid coconut oil
½ cup dextrose
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1⅓ cups white spelt flour flour
2 tbs corn flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
½ cup chopped nuts
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced / 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper and set aside.

Place the sugars and coconut oil in a large bowl and cream together using an electric mixer.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.

Add the flours and bicarb soda and mix until fully combined and then fold through the nuts and chocolate.

Roll the dough into balls and place in the fridge to chill for at least one hour.

Once chilled, place the dough onto the prepared trays leaving about 5cm of space between them. Bake for approx 17 minutes or until golden.

Allow to cool on the trays for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Makes about 22

Long Winter Molasses Cookies (SRC Cookie Carnival)

It's December so there is no Secret Recipe Club post for Group D but instead it's Cookie Carnival time! Members from all 4 groups have volunteered to do a cookie post today. I think this is the first time we have done this (certainly it's the first time I have participated) and I was so excited to find a new cookie recipe.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without cookies. Over the years I've made dozens of different types to give as gifts, to share when friends and family drop around and just to have something special in the cookie jar.

I was assigned Cheese Curd in Paradise by Ashley. Ashley lives in Green Bay, has a 2 year old son and is a serious Packers fan (and yes even here in Australia I have heard of the Green Bay Packers!). I actually did the final semester of my law degree at Marquette University in Milwaukee so am quite familiar with that part of the world.

Ashley has some amazing looking recipes including a Crispy Parmesan Chicken with Lemon Hollandaise which had my mouth watering and she even won a prize for her Brat and Beer Mac and Cheese in a tailgating recipe contest! - although it does always make me giggle because here tailgating is when you drive too close behind the car in front of you and they don't give prizes for that :)

BUT this is all about the cookies and when I saw her Long Winter Molasses Cookies I was sold. Even though it is stinking hot here at Christmas time these cookies are so Christmassy it doesn't matter whether it is summer or winter! They are packed with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves (I added a few extra to the original recipe) and flavoured with rich, dark molasses. My boys went nuts for these and kept asking for 'more gingerbread!' I made 2 batches and each disappeared in record time.

'Santa' has already put in a request for a plateful of these to be left out with a glass of milk on Christmas Eve and I am more than happy to oblige.

Thanks for a great recipe Ashley, and Merry Christmas to all my fellow SRC members!

Long Winter Molasses Cookies
Adapted from Cheese Curd in Paradise

2 cups plain flour
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
1 ts cinnamon
1 ts ground ginger
1/8 ts ground cloves
1/4 ts nutmeg
1/4 ts ground white pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp bicarb soda
170 grams melted butter

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour,spices, baking soda and salt and then set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, sugar, egg and molasses until well combined. Add the prepared dry ingredients to wet and stir to form a sticky dough.

Wrap the dough in greaseproof paper and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 170 degrees fan-forced / 375 Fahrenheit and line 2 trays with baking paper.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into cookies of whatever shape you like.

Bake for 8 minutes and leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Try not to eat them all at once.

An InLinkz Link-up

My Favourite Christmas Cake

I know not everyone is a fan of fruitcake but in this house we love it! I think it depends on what you have grown up with. I vividly remember my mum making a Christmas cake every year - the ritual of lining the tin with layers of brown paper, the special big bowl that was only ever used at Christmas time and licking the sweet and spicy leftovers from the spatula.  

If you've spent any time here you will know that we eat low sugar these and this cake definitely does NOT fall into that category. But this is one of our special Christmas traditions and I hope my boys have similar fond memories to me.

I have been making my Christmas cake from the same recipe for at least the past 8 years and it is tried and true. I make one for my Dad every year and have been asked to make one for friends of his as well which is a good indication just how good this cake is!

It is a traditional boiled fruitcake laced with brandy and beautiful fragrant spices. I usually try to put the fruit on to steep with brandy in November but I was a few weeks late this year. The fruit soaked for only 3 days and will have only 3 weeks to mature before Christmas. Like most fruitcakes it gets better with age so the earlier you can make it the better, although it would still be absolutely fantastic straight from the oven.

If you've never made your own Christmas cake before I encourage you to give this one a go.

My Favourite Christmas Cake
Adapted from Lyndey's Boiled Fruit Cake

975g mixed dried fruit
125ml (1/2 cup) brandy
250g butter
250ml (1 cup) water
100g (1/2 cup) packed dark brown sugar
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
1/2 ts bicarb soda
4 eggs, lightly beaten
185g (1 1/4 cups) self raising flour
185g ( 1 1/4 cups) plain flour
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tbs mixed spice
125g (1 cup) pecans
100g (3/4 cup) macadamias
60ml (1/4 cup) brandy, extra

Combine the dried fruit and brandy in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to soak overnight or for a week or more.

Line the base and sides of a deep 23cm round or 19cm square baking tin with 2 layers of brown paper and 2 layers of baking paper, bringing the paper 5cm above the edge of the tin.

In a large saucepan, place the soaked fruit, butter, water, sugars and bicarb soda and bring to the boil over medium heat. Once boiling, give it a good stir, remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees Celsius / 120 degrees fan-forced.

Stir the eggs into the fruit mixture the fold through the sifted flours and spices. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Decorate the top with the pecans and macadamias. Bake for 3 hours.

Brush the hot cake with extra brandy. Cover the cake with a layer of baking paper then a layer of foil. Wrap the whole tin in a towel and leave to cool completely (overnight is good).

Once cool, remove all the wrappings, brush the cake with extra brandy and re-wrap with fresh baking paper and foil and leave in a cool, dark place for at least a few weeks if you can before serving.

Suitable to freeze.

Carrot Cake Slice

Well, here we are in December already. How did that happen??  Luckily Christmas is my favourite time of the year so I have no problem being on a count down to Christmas (23 days). School and kindy are winding down, there are cards to write, presents to buy and lots of functions to attend.

A few weekends ago we took the kids into Southbank to the Queensland Symphony Orchestra's Symphonic Santa concert. It was hosted by Jay from Play School and featured lots of children's songs, Christmas carols and of course Santa. We got into early and took a picnic lunch, the boys had a play and the show itself was great.

In addition to the sandwiches and fruit for our picnic I wanted to take something special for morning tea. The kids all have swimming on a Saturday morning and even with an early lunch I knew they would be starving. I had some carrots to use up but I was after something more portable and quicker to cook than a cake. A quick search on Natural New Age Mum and I found this Carrot Cake Slice. All the best bits of a carrot cake but quicker, easier and healthier.

This slice is perfect for all those take-a-plate occasions that pop up in the holidays. It is sweet, moist, lightly spiced and completely delicious. The entire tray disappeared in 24 hours.

This is a Thermomix recipe but you could easily make it a food processor, it will just take a little longer to process in each step. Or simply grate the carrots and mix with the other ingredients.

With the rice malt syrup and sultanas we found it sweet enough but if you are new to a low-sugar way of eating you might want to experiment with the sweetness.

Carrot Cake Slice
Slightly Adapted from Natural New Age Mum

150g (1 cup) carrot
5 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup tapioca/arrowroot flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 ts mixed spice
1/4 cup rice malt syrup (or honey, maple syrup etc)
1/4 cup dried fruit (I used sultanas and craisins)

Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Lightly grease a slice tray with baking paper and set aside.

Peel and roughly chop the carrots, add them to the Thermomix bowl and process for 4 secs/speed 5.

Scrape down the sides and add in all the other ingredients except the dried fruit. Process for 5 secs/speed 5.  Scrape down again, add the sultanas and mix for 5 sec/speed 4/reverse.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tray and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through and golden.

Cool in the tray for 10 minutes before turning out oton a wire rack. Slice into squares to serve.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

While I am a very keen meal-planner, I tend not to plan anything much for Friday and Saturday nights. Sometimes we have leftovers and sometimes I just try to use up whatever odds and ends are left in the fridge before we do the grocery shopping on the weekend. We also often have breakfast for dinner (aka dinner) with pancakes, waffles, bacon and eggs and the like.

When we happened to have a large sweet potato that was fast approaching it's use-by, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to try out these sweet potato pancakes that I found on Weelicious a few months ago.

They are a little more time consuming than regular pancakes in that you need to steam and puree the sweet potato first but if you happened to have leftover vegetables from dinner that would make it really easy.

I was amazed at how much my kids loved these. Even my notoriously picky Mr 4 devoured them - in fact he ate 7! The recipe made 16 and I was expecting my husband and I to be able to have some but nope, my 3 boys gobbled up all 16 in record time.

If you don't have sweet potato then pumpkin, carrot or swede would also work brilliantly.

The pancakes have a very soft texture, to the point  you might be wondering if they are actually cooked. They are! Check out the original post and all the comments for more info on that.

Easy Sweet Potato Pancakes
Adapted from Weelicious

1 cup spelt flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup rice milk
1 tablespoon rice malt syrup
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup sweet potato puree

Place the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients until smooth

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Don’t overmix.

Heat a large pan over medium heat and add a little butter or coconut oil.

Pour large spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan, making as many pancakes as will fit, and cook for 2-3 minutes before flipping and cooking for a further minute or so until cooked through and golden brown.

Makes 16 pancakes. Serve with butter and rice malt syrup.