Chili with Beef, Chocolate and Pumpkin (SRC)

This month marks the last official month for Group D in the Secret Recipe Club. Group D has been my home within SRC since I started back in February 2013 so it feels a little strange to be moving on!  Next month I will be in Group C which posts on the third Monday of the month and I'm really excited to discover a whole new group of blogs and bloggers.

This month I was absolutely delighted to be assigned Lavender and Lovage by Karen, who is truly living the dream dividing her time between England and France. Karen's blog is absolutely beautiful and she has recipes for everything from simple home cooked favourites to regional specialities to fabulous breads and desserts.

I've had Karen's blog before and last time I chose to make her Saffron and Cardamom Sweet Buns which were so amazingly good my kids still talk about them! This time I wanted something seasonal and luckily Karen has some wonderful Autumn recipes to choose from.

I loved Karen's description of Autumn in Bonfire Chili with Beef, Chocolate and Pumpkin - she speaks of crisp misty mornings, crackling leaves, log fires, fireside suppers and hot chocolate. Where I live Autumn simply means that night time temperatures might finally slip into the teens but don't get too excited because it could still be 30 degrees during the day! I really do think I live on the wrong continent.

I initially planned on baking her Harvest Apple Cake which is a wonderfully simple apple sponge cake that would be equally good for afternoon tea or dessert. 

But whether it was from dreaming of being in a true northern hemisphere Autumn or just the fact the recipe sounded so intriguing, I ended up choosing to make the Bonfire Chili. I've never made a chili quite like this one with chocolate and pumpkin and when the weather actually turned cool and rainy it seemed it was meant to be.

I chose to make the chili in the slow cooker which I love doing at any time of the year but has become my default these days as it makes dinner time so much easier to have a meal sitting there ready to go. We served the chili with some plain rice but it would be equally delicious with corn chips and cheese.

It was a hearty and warming dish to have on a cool night and my Mr 7 cleaned his plate not once, not twice but three times! I've never used chocolate in a savoury recipe before although I know it's quite common in Mexico. The chocolate made the sauce much richer and more complex without being overly chocolate-y. My husband also gave it the thumbs up despite hating pumpkin with a passion and having to pick around it to get his serve.

Slow Cooked Beef Chili with Chocolate and Pumpkin
Adapted from Lavender and Lovage

1kg casserole beef, diced into large chunks
2 medium onions, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
500g pumpkin, diced the same size as the beef
1 small red chili, finely sliced
2 ts ground cumin
2 ts ground coriander
1 ts dried oregano
1/2 ts cinnamon
1/2 - 1 ts chili powder
500g tomato passata
1 tbs tomato paste
1 tbs coconut sugar
1 x 400g tin red kidney beans
70g dark chocolate (I used Green & Blacks 70%)
salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into the slow cooker and mix well.

Cook on low for 8 hours.

Serve with rice.

Serves 6-8

Thank you Karen for a lovely recipe and a wonderful final month for Group D!

An InLinkz Link-up

Turning 7

I can't even believe it but my big boy turned 7 yesterday. 7! We couldn't be prouder of this kind, curious, funny boy with the infectious laugh and big heart. Love him to bits!

No birthday party this year (we've decided to alternate birthday parties for the boys and he had one last year which I talked about here), instead he took some cupcakes to share with his classmates and we had family over for birthday cake and pizza - his choice.

Being a wholefood and low sugar family birthdays always pose a dilemma for me. While we don't want to take an 'anything goes' approach, we also don't want to restrict treats when to me, having something once a year on your birthday is the very definition of a treat.

So while these recipes definitely contain more sugar than is normal for us, they are also free from artificial additives and full of less-refined ingredients such as spelt flour, raw cacao, coconut sugar and grass-fed butter. And I'm totally ok with that.

Mr 7 was very clear that he wanted mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing for school, and chocolate number 7 cake with vanilla icing and sprinkles for home.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes

125g melted butter
100g coconut sugar
2 eggs
1 ts vanilla extract
170 g white spelt flour
2 1/2 ts baking powder
40g raw cacao
2/3 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 150 degrees fan-forced / 170 degrees Celsius. Line 2 mini cupcake pans with 36 paper cupcake liners and set aside.

Place all ingredients into a large bowl, in the order listed, and mix with electric beaters for about 1 minute until smooth and well combined.

If you have a thermomix, place all ingredients into the mixing bowl and mix for 30 secs / SP 4, scraping down the sides as needed.

Spoon heaped teaspoons of mixture into the prepared tins, filling each just over half full.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed lightly. Do not overcook!

Makes 36

Chocolate Icing

90g softened butter
1/3 cup raw cacao
1 1/2 cups powdered coconut sugar (grind coconut sugar in thermomix or high powered blender until as fine as icing sugar and measure after grinding)
1 ts vanilla extract
1 tbs coconut milk

Hoppers 00s & 000s to decorate

Grind the coconut sugar first and then measure out 1 1/2 cups, reserving any extra for another time. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth and fluffy.

Pour 00s & 000s into a small bowl.

Spread icing on the top of each cupcake then dip lightly into the sprinkles to decorate.

I'm told the cupcakes went down very well at school!

Next was his birthday cake for home. Now I've tried many recipes over the years and I knew that not all of them would work for a shaped cake like this one. I need something that wouldn't fall apart when it was sliced. Rather than reinvent the wheel I decided to tweak a few recipes I've made before and come up with my own.

Wholefood Chocolate Sheet Cake

400g white spelt flour
100g raw cacao powder
2 tbs baking powder
250g unsalted butter, softened
1/4 ts fine sea salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
500g rice malt syrup
250ml water
1 ts vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius / 150 degrees fan-forced. Grease a 23 x 33cm tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Place all ingredients into a large bowl and using electric beaters, beat together at low speed until combined, then on high speed for 2 minutes until smooth and glossy.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for approx 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Icing

125g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup organic icing sugar*
1/2 cup powdered coconut sugar (see chocolate icing above)
1 ts vanilla extract
1-2 tbs coconut milk

Combine all ingredients in thermomix or large bowl with electric beaters and beat until smooth and pale.

*I have experimented using all coconut sugar for the icing before and while the flavour was amazing it was quite caramel in colour which was not the look I wanted here. Next year I will be pushing harder for a chocolate icing so I can use all coconut sugar and some avocado as well.

I used a template to cut out the number 7 shape and did a crumb coat and second coat of icing before decorating with Hopper's 00s and 000s which are free from artificial additives.

So that's it. Our sweet but additive free birthday cakes for our sweet Mr 7.

How do you handle birthday parties at your place? Do you have certain foods that you just won't serve or does anything go?

Menu Plan Monday (18th April)

Is is starting to get cooler where you are? The weather is definitely changing here and we are loving the cooler Autumn nights. It means that soups, casseroles and slow cooked meals are well and truly back on the menu. Yippee! My big boy turns 7 this week and he has chosen homemade pizza for his birthday dinner with birthday cake for dessert.

On the menu this week ...

Monday - Slow cooked roast chicken with cinnamon sweet potato and greens

Tuesday - Leftovers from freezer

Wednesday - Pizza and birthday cake

Thursday - Slow cooked beef madras

Friday - Grain free pancakes with bacon

Saturday - Hash browns with poached eggs and avocado

Sunday - Baked veggie spring rolls

Monday - Sausage and vege bake

Tuesday - Lemon and coconut dahl with rice

Wednesday - Spaghetti bolognaise

Thursday - Chicken and cauliflower risotto (with leftover roast chicken)

Friday - DIY

Saturday -  Pumpkin and apple soup with focaccia

Sunday - Nasi goreng

What's on your meal plan this week?

Dairy Free Chocolate Panna Cotta

Well I don't know where the last week has gone! The kids went back to school on Monday and we've been easing ourselves back into normal routine. Early starts in the morning, less time to cook, homework to do - I'm sure you all know about that!

If you've been following me on Facebook you will have seen my whoops moment today. You see there was a blackout a few nights ago and the next morning our oven wouldn't turn on. Which is a pretty much a complete disaster for someone who bakes as often as I do! Anyway after stressing for a few days about whether we could replace it now or survive without one for a while, I realised I hadn't reset the clock on the oven after the blackout and as soon as I did, voila! It worked! Whew.

Today though I'm sharing a recipe which doesn't require an oven and was so delicious my kids haven't stopped talking about it!

While panna cotta is traditionally a dairy-laden dessert, this version gives you the same ultra creamy result with coconut cream. This is essentially the richest, creamiest most luscious custard you will ever eat, with the gelatine allowing it to set enough to be turned out while still having a bit of a wobble. Just gorgeous.

Enjoy!

Dairy Free Chocolate Panna Cotta
Adapted from The Nourished Psychologist

400g coconut cream
200g non-dairy milk (rice or coconut work well)
2 eggs
20g coconut oil
1/4 cup raw cacao
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 ts vanilla extract
pinch salt
2 ts Great Lakes gelatine

Place all ingredients into the Thermomix and cook for 7.5 minutes / 80 degrees / SP 4.

Pour mixture into 4 cups or ramekins and place in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Serve topped with berries.

No thermomix? No worries. You can make this on the stove top by following the link above to the original method (I did make a few changes to the recipe).

Makes 4

Dairy Free Strawberry Muffins

I feel like I've lost my baking mojo a little over the past few weeks. The kids and I have all been taking turns to get sick and I just had my first exam of the year, so time and energy has been pretty low. Every weekend I've just been baking the essentials of bread, a couple of snacks for the week and prepping some dinners.

Today though I was inspired to whip up something yummy for the boys to have for afternoon tea. The sun was shining, I had nowhere to be and there was a punnet of strawberries calling my name!

We are huge fans of strawberries but it's rare that I cook with them, they just never seem to last long enough.

Did you know that strawberries are one of the highest spayed crops? So if you can't get organic berries then washing them well is essential. I tip strawberries into a bowl, cover with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar and leave them to soak for 5 minutes before rinsing. Easy. If you have an abundance of fresh strawberries you can wash them, trim the tops off and freeze to use later.

The boys loved these muffins. They are light and sweet and packed with fresh strawberry flavour. I would like to say I know they'll freeze well but there weren't any left for me to find out!

I got 8 full muffins from this recipe but you could probably stretch the mixture to 12.

My Dairy Free Strawberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups white spelt flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts salt
1 egg, at room temperature
1/2 cup non-dairy milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 ts vanilla extract
1 punnet strawberries, washed and quartered

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees fan-forced. Place 8 paper liners in a muffin tray and set aside.

Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl and use a whisk to combine.

Place the wet ingredients into a jug and whisk together until smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently until only just combined. Fold through the strawberries reserving a handful to scatter on top of the muffins.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tray, about 2/3 full, and top with reserved strawberries.

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and the top springs back when pressed lightly.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Makes 8

What are whole foods and why eat them?

Not too many years ago we were a typical household, spending a fortune at the supermarket every week and coming home with piles of packets, jars and cans. The pantry never seemed big enough to hold all the packaged food and if I'm honest, I liked seeing the pantry full - it gave me a sense of security.

Fast forward to when our first child was ready to start solids and I had no idea what I should be feeding him. The advice was to start with processed rice cereal but that never sat quite right with me. Surely just plain fruit or vegetables would be better? We then discovered quite quickly that he was intolerant to wheat and dairy and did an overhaul of the ingredients we bought for him, even if not so much for ourselves.

How important is our diet to our overall health? 

It was only when we were trying for our third baby and suffered two devastating miscarriages along the way that we really began to look at what we were eating. We wanted to be as healthy as possible and it didn't take too much research to tell us that diet has a massive impact on physical and mental health.

The turning point for me was finding Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar and reading Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. I realised we had fallen into the trap of pseudo-healthy processed foods - high sugar, high carb, low fat filler foods with very little nutritional value. All the veggies in the world weren't going to balance that out! We had to do a major overhaul and start fresh. It was time to eat cleanly.

What is clean eating?

Clean eating is all about refreshing your eating habits and really getting back to basics. Embracing fresh, whole foods and choosing the most natural and healthy option from all the food groups. The term whole foods refers to foods that are are as close to their natural state as possible with minimal or no processing or additives. They are clean foods that retain their nutrients and nourish the body. As an example a tomato is a wholefood - tinned tomato soup is not!

As I've explained before, eating this way has been a journey of discovery for us and not something that happened overnight. We are now at the point where I make nearly everything from scratch including bread, but this has been a long time coming.

Great reasons to switch from processed foods to wholefoods

Living a long and healthy life is clearly the major reason to ditch the processed stuff but there are tons of other great reasons like:

• boosting your nutrition which can boost your immunity and cut cravings, 
• improving behaviour and mood by removing artificial additives like colours and preservatives
• feeling fuller allowing you to eat less and lose weight

A wholefoods diet is not restrictive at all and in fact, no food is off limits. Want potato chips? No problem, just make them yourself with fresh potatoes and a good quality fat (these garlic fries were amazing). Want chocolate cake? Choose a recipe with spelt flour, nuts, 85% cocoa chocolate, butter, eggs and free from refined sugar (check out my Chocolate Orange Celebration Cake). It is amazing how satisfying these foods are when made from scratch with quality ingredients. And it makes it much easier to stop at just one piece!

Does it have to be organic to be healthy?

Something I get asked a lot is whether we eat organic and the answer is, no. Well not completely anyway. Budget-wise eating 100% organic is simply not possible for us.  There is no doubt that organic is better for you and if money were no object we would absolutely choose organic. However, organic is not the defining factor when it comes to whole foods. A carrot is a healthy and delicious whole food whether it is organic or not so don't let that stop you!

And speaking of fruits and vegetables, you may have heard of the Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen put out by the US Environmental Working Group. These are a great guide as to whether it is worth buying organic. Using a guide like this is a way to stretch your food budget further by only buying the organic food that is really worth it.

Free Printables

I have created a free printable of the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 for you which are now in my resource library. Want access? Subscribe here for free instant access to all the materials in the resource library, with new content being added all the time!

Next week we'll be talking about how to set up your wholefoods kitchen including taking inventories of pantry, fridge and freezer so you're not throwing money away. If you like this post you can also sign up to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox.

Menu Plan Monday (4th April)

Welcome to April everyone! Can you believe it? We're a month into Autumn and although the days are ever so slightly shorter and the nights a little cooler, it's still hot, hot, hot during the day.

We have one week of school holidays left and then it's back to school for the second week of this fortnight so our meal plan reflects that change. We leave at 6.45am on Wednesdays and Thursdays during term time so I like to have breakfast pre-prepared (things like overnight oats work well) and dinner either super-quick or in the slow cooker on those days. It is an absolute lifesaver and gives me the maximum amount of time to study without domestic interruptions (I feel like I should hashtag that!).

What we're eating this fortnight ...

Monday - Slow cooked chicken with potatoes and bacon

Tuesday - Lemon and coconut dahl

Wednesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Thursday - Veggie quiche

Friday - Brinner (brown rice pancakes and scrambled eggs)

Saturday - Homemade pizza

Sunday - Za’atar chicken with salad

Monday - Stir fry (with leftover pork from the freezer)

Tuesday - Shepherd's Pie

Wednesday - Slow cooked curried sausages

Thursday - Creamy chicken and avocado pasta (with leftover chicken)

Friday - DIY

Saturday - Burgers (with meat patties from the freezer)

Sunday - Dinner out with family

What's on the menu at your place this week?

Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

I am a huge fan of bread and butter pudding, it's the ultimate in comfort food. Making it with hot cross buns really takes it up another level though with the spice and sultanas.

In the interest of full disclosure I have to admit I actually made this batch of hot cross buns especially to make this pudding. Because there is zero chance I would ever get to make it because we never have leftover hot cross buns!

I used home made hot cross buns for this but of course any would do. Just make sure they are at least a day or so old so they soak up all the delicious custard.

And with that we say goodbye to hot cross buns for another year.

My Hot Cross Bun and Butter Pudding

6 leftover hot cross buns
1 cup coconut cream*
2 cups rice milk*
2 ts vanilla extract
1 tbs coconut sugar
3 eggs
6 ts marmalade*

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

In a jug beat together the coconut cream, milk, vanilla, coconut sugar and eggs until well combined.

Slice the hot cross buns through the middle and place the bottom halves in a greased deep baking dish. Spread each one with a teaspoon of marmalade.

Pour over half of the milk mixture, replace the tops of the buns and pour over the remaining mixture.

Leave to rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the buns to absorb about 1/2 the liquid.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until golden brown and the custard is only just set in the middle (it should still have a wobble).

Stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Serves 6

* if not dairy free you can replace with regular cream, milk and butter for a more traditional bread and butter pudding.

Do you ever have leftover hot cross buns? Or are you more likely to have a stash of Easter eggs hidden somewhere?

Dutch Easter Bunny Bread (SRC)

This month's Secret Recipe Club has given me one of my most favourite baking projects in years. I was delighted to be assigned Tara's Multicultural Table by, you guessed it, Tara. She has 2 young children and a beautiful blog themed by country, meaning she has cooked and baked her way around the world and back again!

Being Australian I of course had to first check whether she had any recipes from my region and loved that she has baked Sausage Rolls and Pikelets, both of which are quintessentially Aussie.

Tara has dozens of recipes which caught my eye but to be honest, once I saw this one for Dutch Easter Bunny Bread I knew I didn't have to look any further. The fact that reveal is the day after Easter seemed like it was meant to be!

Paashaasjes (Easter bunnies in Dutch) are a basic bread rolled and shaped into bunnies with raisins or chocolate chips for eyes and holding an egg which becomes perfectly hardboiled when cooked with the bread.

While mine are nowhere near as neat as Tara's, the boys and I had a great time rolling, shaping and decorating these little bunnies and they certainly loved eating them too.

Dutch Easter Bunny Bread
Adapted for Thermomix from Tara's Multicultural Table

250g water
1 1/2 ts instant yeast
1 ts raw honey
500g plain flour
120g buttermilk
1/2 ts salt

Decoration:
6 eggs, at room temperature, washed and dried
18 chocolate chips or sultanas
1 egg, beaten with 1 tbs water

Place the water, yeast and honey into the bowl and heat for 3 mins / 37 degrees / SP 1.

Add the flour, buttermilk and salt and knead for 3 mins / closed lid.

Shape into a ball and placed in a greased bowl. Cover and allow to rest for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 170 degrees fan-forced. Line 2 trays with baking paper and set aside.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Shape one ball of dough at a time and leave the rest covered until ready to use. Roll the dough out into an oval approximately 7 inches tall. Cut as per the pictures below to form the bunny shape.

Lift the dough shape onto the prepared tray. Place an egg into the middle lower third of the dough then fold over the arms. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes until puffed.

Place 3 chocolate chips on each for the eyes and nose of the rabbit. Use a toothpick to draw whiskers and mark the paws. Brush with beaten egg. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 6

Aren't they gorgeous?

Thanks for a great month Tara! I loved making these with my boys and I think we have now found a new Easter tradition.

An InLinkz Link-up

Our Easter Round-up

This year our Easter was the closest to 100% homemade as we've gotten!

For the first time ever we didn't buy a single hot cross bun from the shops, instead I baked up a storm for nearly the whole of March, trying and refining hot cross bun recipes to find the one that we love. Which we did - using white spelt flour, rice malt syrup, loads of spice and a good handful of organic sultanas. Delicious!

If you've ever looked at the ingredients on supermarket hot cross buns you were likely as horrified as I was - vegetable oil, loads of sugar, emuslifiers and preservatives. Let me tell you it does not have to be that way! Making your own hot cross buns is easier than you might think and a great activity to get the kids involved with (my recipe is scrawled in a notebook but I will get it on the blog when I can, hopefully sometime before next Easter!).

The Easter Bunny brought our boys some lovely winter pyjamas and a single dark chocolate Lindt Bunny. This was the only commercial chocolate the boys received as we had requested non-choc gifts from relatives. Everyone awesomely obliged and boys were gifted board games, books and some rabbit ornaments. We also did an Easter Egg hunt this morning with the boys searching for plastic eggs with little chickens inside and I love that they loved the experience of the hunt so much they didn't notice there was no chocolate involved!

Our junk food philosophy can be summed up as 'party food is for parties' (borrowed from Sweet Poison by David Gillespie) meaning we don't stop the boys eating anything but we clearly treat it as sometimes food and we don't have it in the pantry.

The boys all wanted to eat their chocolate for breakfast but unlike the other two, Mr 5 scoffed the lot before 7am and then felt so sick for most of the day that he has refused all other chocolate and can't even stand the smell of it. He usually doesn't have an off-switch when it comes to sweets so perhaps this has been an effective lesson for him! I'm interested to see how long the aversion will last and whether it will affect how much chocolate he eats on other occasions.

We also didn't purchase any chocolates for each other or for family but instead experimented with some homemade treats. Our homemade chocolates were made using Quirky Jo's dairy-free raw chocolate, Alexx Stuart's real marshmallow and Against All Grain's mandarin truffles. This was my first time using cacao butter to make real wholefood chocolate and I was so impressed with how easy it was to use and how delicious the results were. The marshmallow was out of this world and although obviously it contains sugar (rice malt syrup) it's so much cleaner than the bought stuff. I will be playing around with different flavours and ingredients for Christmas gifts too.

I have such fond memories of making chocolates with praline, nougat, marshmallow and cream fillings for Easter and Christmas with my mum. I still have all these moulds and loved digging them out to use with my boys. Making memories and delicious food like this really is at the heart of what My Wholefood Family is all about.

I hope you and your family have enjoyed a wonderful Easter. What are your traditions - do you go camping? enjoy a seafood feast? what special treats did you bake, make or create? Let me know below ...

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?

Menu Plan Monday (21st March)

Well here we are, just a week until Easter and then 2 weeks of school holidays! I don't know about the kids but I am counting down the days at this point. We have a busy week coming up with parent-teacher interviews and Easter Bonnet Parade at school and a ton of assignment writing for me before I lose my child-free days for 2 weeks.

With such a busy week coming up I am looking for easy, healthy meals that I can throw together with just a few ingredients or cook all in pot. You will see there is absolutely nothing fancy here (unless you count quinoa but if you don't have any you could easily use brown rice instead). Roasts, curry, bolognaise, curried sausages and even tuna mornay. These classic meals are cheap, easy, filling and most importantly delicious.

Have a great week!

What we'll be eating this fortnight ...

Monday - Roast chicken and vegetables

Tuesday - Chicken and quinoa salad (using leftover chicken and veggies)

Wednesday - Chickpea curry with rice

Thursday - Tuna and vegetable mornay

Good Friday - Fish, wedges and salad

Easter Saturday - Brinner

Easter Sunday - out for lunch - DIY dinner

Easter Monday - Curried sausages with cauliflower rice

Tuesday - Spaghetti bolognaise

Wednesday - Stir fry (leftover chicken)

Thursday - Vegetable lasagna

Friday - Hash browns and eggs

Saturday - DIY

Sunday - Mexican pulled pork with wraps and salad

My Vegetarian Chilli Bowls (Thermomix)

Whether you are vegetarian or not, there is definitely a place for vegetarian meals in your diet. We really enjoy meat and choose to buy it direct from the farm. But just 1kg of mince, 1kg paleo sausages and a big organic chicken does the 5 of us for a fortnight. The other nights? We tend to choose vegetarian meals which are still packed with protein and tons of flavour. Not only is it healthier to simply be eating more vegetables it's also much kinder on our budget.

One of my favourite places to grab meal ideas is from other blogs and one of my favourites is Vegie Head. Adele is vegan and she has created an amazing and inclusive community along with tons of great plant-based recipes. Being (mostly) dairy-free I have found vegan recipes to be a great place to start when looking to replace ingredients or to get inspiration.

We love Mexican food and these vegetarian chilli bowls were a huge hit, so much so that there wasn't any left for my lunch! Boo hoo. A few fresh ingredients and a handful of pantry staples and you could be having this for dinner tonight!

I have only included Thermomix instruction below but you could definitely make this on the stove top with a few simple alterations. Enjoy!

My Vegetarian Chilli Bowls
Inspired by Vegie Head

Quinoa:
200g quinoa
700ml water
1/2 ts salt
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Place the quinoa into a bowl, cover with water and leave to soak for 20 minutes while you prepare the sauce.

Add the water and salt into the thermomix bowl. Drain the quinoa into the simmering basket and place into the thermomix. Drizzle the oil over the quinoa.

Cook for 20 minutes / Varoma / SP 4.

Tip the quinoa into a thermoserver and set aside.

Sauce:
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
20g coconut oil
2 heaped ts cumin
1 heaped ts dried coriander
1/2 - 1 ts chilli flakes (to taste, or leave out entirely)
60g tomato paste
2 tbs vegetable stock paste
500g water
2 x 400g tins red kidney beans
1 x 400g tin corn kernels
juice 1 lime

to serve:
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 avocado
lime cheeks
natural yoghurt

Chop onion, garlic and coriander stems 10 secs / SP 8, scraping down the bowl a few times if needed, until finely chopped. Add the coconut oil and cook for 3 mins / 100 degrees / SP 2. Add the cumin, dried coriander, chilli, tomato paste, stock paste and water and cook for 3 minutes / 100 degrees / SP 2.

Insert the butterfly, add the beans and corn and cook for 8 minutes / 100 degrees / reverse / SP 1.

Add the lime juice and check for seasoning.

Pour the sauce over the cooked quinoa, cover and leave to rest for 10 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Serve topped with fresh tomato, diced avocado and a dollop of yoghurt.

Serves 4-6

Do you do a meatless meal every week? Please share some of your favourites as I am always looking for inspiration!

Linking up with Domesblissity's Thriving on Thursdays

My top 5 No-Bake Snacks for Kids

So you may have noticed that I like to bake. A lot! But in reality we're not eating baked goods all the time. I always make big batches and stash at least half in the freezer for another time. Things like muffins and biscuits and slices are brilliant to have on hand to pop into lunchboxes or to grab out when we have a playdate.

But there are also plenty of times when to be honest, I just don't feel like baking. Or we're too busy or it's too hot ... you get the idea. I also want to mix things up a bit so we're not eating the same things all the time and if the kids have had a muffin in their lunchbox they are certainly not getting cake for afternoon tea.

It's a good idea to have a range of no-bake options that you can whip up quickly as soon as the hungry horde descends after school.

Smoothies

This is a no-brainer! A smoothie can be a meal in a glass if you pack it full of nutrient dense (and delicious) ingredients. I personally have been down the green smoothie road and can say with certainty that they don't agree with me. I just don't feel good drinking them even when they taste good. But there are other ways to get in some goodness. This is my go-to smoothie formula for the kids:

Per child:
1 cup milk (we use rice, almond or coconut)
1/2 frozen banana or handful berries
1/4 avocado
1 ts chia seeds
1 ts mixed ground seeds (sunflower, pepita and linseed)
cinnamon, vanilla or cacao
probiotic powder

Place all ingredients into a high powered blender and process until smooth (TMX 1 minute / SP 9).

Bliss balls

So these require a little more planning but once they are made they can be stored in the freezer and will keep for ages. There are loads of bliss ball recipes out there but as most of them are packed full of dried fruit they are very high in sugar. Two of my family favourites are my Almond and Chia Bliss Balls which are fruit-free and my Chocolate Bliss Balls which are nut and coconut free but do contain some dates. You can really let your imagination run wild here though - you can swap the nuts, the sweetener, the fruit to whatever you happen to have on hand. Just taste as you go and when the mixture sticks together they are ready to roll!

Popcorn

An oldie but a goodie. Is there anything better than popcorn? I'm talking the homemade stuff here not anything with synthetic 'butter flavour' that is artificially coloured yellow. There are 2 easy ways to make popcorn. First you can heat up some oil in a large pot (coconut oil or ghee are brilliant), toss in the kernels, cover and wait for them to stop popping. Or you can buy an air-popper really cheaply from places like Kmart. We have had an air popper for years and it gets used at least once a week. Simply throw in the kernels, turn it on and voila, popcorn!

We always have lots of butter and a sprinkle of sea salt on our popcorn and the kids love it. We recently switched to Honest 2 Goodness brand organic popping corn and have been amazed by how fresh and tasty it is compared with the stuff you can buy from the supermarket. And it is GMO free unlike most of the corn products you buy at the shops.

Here's an extra tip, if you start noticing that you are left with heaps of unpopped kernels in the bottom of the bowl it means that they have dried out and are stale. The kernels only pop because the water inside them turns to steam and they basically explode from the inside. No moisture inside means they can't pop. So always store your popping corn in an airtight container to keep it fresh!

Apple slices with peanut butter

Ok this one sounds like a cop-out but the kids love it! It's as easy as slicing up an apple and spreading some peanut butter on each piece. That's it. Adding the peanut butter means they are getting some good fat and protein and it keeps them fuller far longer than just an apple on it's own.

Can't have peanuts? Use cashew or almond butter or even tahini instead. Make sure you choose a good quality nut butter than is 100% nuts with no oils, salt, sugar or preservatives.

Crackers, veggie sticks and cheese

I do make homemade crackers on occasion but they can be fiddly and time consuming to roll out and slice and I'm not doing that every day (or even every week). When I buy crackers there are 2 types I choose, either brown rice crackers like the Eat Rite brand or an organic rice cake (Pure Harvest brand is good). Throw some crackers on a plate with whatever veg your kids like to eat raw - think carrot sticks, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and some cheese and that's afternoon tea sorted. My fussy Mr 5 LOVES soft cheese like brie or camembert so if there happens to be some on special I might surprise him with some. Easy as.

So that's it, my top 5 no-bake snacks for kids. Do you have a favourite afternoon tea for your kids? Do you bake for afternoon tea or only for special occasions?

How to: Cook a Perfect Roast Chicken

Whether it's a special occasion or just a Sunday roast, knowing how to cook a roast chicken is practically a life skill. What other food is as comforting and economical as the humble roast chook?

Growing up we regularly had roast chicken but apart from the drumstick it was never my favourite thing. The breast meat was always quite dry and powdery and without smothering it in gravy it didn't really have much flavour. But after learning a few simple tips and tricks I can finally say I have mastered the roast chicken and we have one every fortnight.

Forget buying a ready roasted chicken that is packed with nasty ingredients from the supermarket, my perfect roast chicken will become a staple at your place.

First things first, you need to choose the right chicken. If your budget allows then organic and free range is definitely the best and if you choose a large one it should give you enough meat for 2 dinners and a litre or so of broth from the bones.

To make sure you have enough meat for 2 dinners don't serve the chicken whole at the table. Instead carefully strip the meat off the bones and reserve some immediately. I allow just over half with roast vegetables for the first night then freeze the rest for risotto, stir-fry or just a salad loaded up with green veg, avocado and a great dressing. Don't forget to save all the bones for a broth - you can pop them straight into the slow cooker if you have one with some veggies and a few litres of water (I will be posting the full recipe for my bone broth soon so keep an eye out for that).

My top tips for a perfect roast chicken:

1. Check your timing - a good rule of thumb is to cook your chook at 190 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes per 500g plus an extra 20 minutes.

2. Flavour the chicken from the inside - lemon, onion, garlic and herbs are all brilliant.

3. Turn it upside down to rest - this will guarantee juicy breast meat.

4. Rest the meat for at least 20 minutes or anywhere up to half the cooking time, just cover with a few sheets of alfoil and a folded towel to keep in the heat.

5. Use the pan juices to make amazing gravy - you will see in the recipe below what I do to make an easy chicken gravy.

My Perfect Roast Chicken

1.7kg chicken
1 onion, peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 ts salt
1/2 ts cracked black pepper
1 sprig fresh rosemary or 2 sprigs fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups water

1.2 kg potatoes, sweet potato and pumpkin, cut into 4cm pieces
2 tbs duck fat
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius. Place the duck fat into a large baking dish and put in the oven to heat up.

Place the chicken into another large baking dish (I use pyrex). Place the garlic and half the onion inside the cavity.

Pour the oil over the top of the chicken, sprinkle on the salt, pepper and rosemary and massage them all in well. Add the onion to the dish and pour in the water around the chicken (this will form the basis of the gravy later).

Carefully remove the hot baking dish from the oven and tip in the chopped vegetables. Use 2 spoons to toss the veggies in the duck fat, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place both baking dishes in the oven and roast for 1 hour 40 minutes.

Remove the dishes from the oven. Place the chicken onto a serving plate and using tongs, carefully turn the chicken upside down (breast side down). Cover with foil and leave to rest for at least 20 minutes.

To make an easy chicken gravy:

Pour the pan juices and the onion into the Thermomix bowl along with 25g butter, 25g white spelt flour and 1 ts vegetable or chicken stock paste. Cook for 5 minutes / 90 degrees / SP 3. The puree for 10 secs / SP 9. Check for seasoning.

Linking up with Domesblissity's Thriving on Thursdays.

Meal Plan Monday (7th March)

Oh Monday, you come around so quickly these days!

I'm one of those (seemingly) rare people who doesn't hate Mondays. It always seems like a fresh start to me - lots of things to do and a whole week to do them in. Plus all 3 of my boys happened to be born on a Monday so there's that!

I have decided to post my meal plans every second Monday from now on. We plan and shop fortnightly anyway so it makes more sense. It will also give you more of an idea of how I cook once- eat twice, as very often the meals in the second week are based on leftover bulk ingredients from the first week.

This Monday will be a big prep day as I am picking up our 20kg bulk meat order and packaging it all up for the freezer.  I will also prepare the vegetable base for the bolognaise sauce and mix up the spices for the curried sausages and burrito bowls.

What we are eating this fortnight ...

Monday - Peanut Sesame Noodles

Tuesday - Spaghetti Bolognaise

Wednesday - Curried Sausages

Thursday - Mexican Burrito Bowls

Friday - DIY

Saturday - Veggie Fritters

Sunday - Homemade gnocchi with mushrooms

Monday - Green Quiche

Tuesday - Butter Chicken (leftover from freezer)

Wednesday - Lasagna (bolognaise sauce leftover from freezer)

Thursday - Chicken stir-fry (roast chicken leftover from freezer)

Friday - Grain-free Pancakes with Strawberry Chia Jam

Saturday - DIY

Sunday - Roast Chicken and vegetables

Have a great week!

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

Dairy Free Spelt Chocolate Chip Muffins

I actually can't remember the last time I baked anything with chocolate chips. Being dairy free my chocolate choices are quite limited and I tend to stick with blocks of 85% cocoa chocolate like Lindt or Green & Blacks which are naturally free of dairy.

But when I spotted these dairy free chocolate chips in the bulk section of the my health food store I had to grab some and make something for the boys. And what else to bake but chocolate chip muffins?!

I got 10 from this recipe but you could easily make 12 instead (I normally would) just by making them slightly smaller.

This is a simple and delicious recipe that is free from wheat, dairy, nuts and refined sugar.  Perfect for the after school munchies!

Spelt Chocolate Chip Muffins (Dairy free)

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut sugar
2 ts vanilla extract
3/4 cup rice milk

Dry ingredients:
1 2/3 cup wholemeal spelt flour
3 ts baking powder
pinch salt

Filling:
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips
2 tbs chocolate chips, extra

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

Line a muffin tray with paper liners and set aside.

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Thermomix instructions - add the wet ingredients into the bowl and mix for 5 secs / SP 4.

Add the dry ingredients and mix for 5 secs / Sp 4, scraping down the bowl if needed.

Add the 1/2 cup chocolate chips and mix for 4 secs / SP 3 / Reverse.

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No thermomix? Combine the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until just combined.  

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Spoon the mixture into the prepared tray and sprinkle the extra chocolate chips over the top.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the top springs back and they are evenly golden brown.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Makes 10-12 depending on the size of your muffin tray.

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

Menu Plan Monday (22nd February)

Can you believe this is the last week of February? At this rate it will be Christmas before we know it!

We have most nights free this week but I also have a lot of work to do while the kids are at school and day care, and definitely don't want to be spending too much time on food preparation.

Are you following me on Facebook yet? I posted a pic of my big bake-off yesterday to get prepared for the week. All that baking means that lunchbox snacks and afternoon teas are already taken care of for the entire week which is awesome. I love feeling organised!

This week we will be eating ...

Monday - Veggie-loaded Spaghetti Bolognaise

Tuesday - Veggie fritters

Wednesday - Chicken stirfry

Thursday - Slow cooked shredded pork

Friday - DIY

Saturday - Brinner (pancakes, eggs, bacon, mushooms)

Sunday -  Homemade pizza

Have a great week!

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.

Menu Plan Monday (15th February)

We have a busy week with a few school functions and doctors appointments so dinners need to be easy and quick. Lots of components are already in the freezer like the meatballs and the chicken for the risotto. We usually do our DIY night on a Saturday but it needs to be on Wednesday this week. Being flexible is key!

Here's what is on the menu for us this week ...

Monday - Pork meatballs with rice noodles and greens

Tuesday - Chicken and corn risotto

Wednesday - DIY

Thursday - Curried sausages with cauliflower rice

Friday - Scrambled eggs, mushrooms and toast

Saturday - Homemade pizza

Sunday - Roast chicken and veg

Have a great week!

Chocolate Bliss Balls (Nut free, Coconut free)

Well love it or loathe it, today is Valentine's Day!

We don't really celebrate it as such but do tend to have something a bit more special for dinner and I will often bake something chocolate-y for us all to enjoy. This year, being determined to keep some treats in the freezer at all times for school lunches and afternoon tea, I decided to just make a batch of chocolate bliss balls.

Yep another bliss ball recipe. I love them! They really are perfect little morsels of deliciousness.

Our school doesn't have any nut restrictions so I don't really need to make things nut free but I think it's good to mix things up a bit so we're not eating the same things all the time. I tend to avoid dates as they are so high in fructose but as a treat now and then (and especially on Valentine's Day) I'm not going to worry about it, especially as they are also a great source of fibre and oh yeah, they're delicious!

The only reason these are coconut free is that we were almost completely out of coconut! Totally unheard of in this house as there is usually coconut in all forms - coconut milk, coconut cream, coconut oil, coconut water, shredded coconut and desiccated coconut #coconutaddict.

So whether you are celebrating Valentine's Day or not, I hope you had a wonderful day!

My (Nut free, Coconut free) Chocolate Bliss Balls

3/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tbs chia seeds
2 tbs raw cacao
1 ts vanilla extract
1/4 ts sea salt
1/2 cup dried dates
2 tbs coconut oil

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until the mixture is sticky and clumping together (TMX 10 secs / SP 8).  Using wet hands, roll the mixture into balls and store in the fridge or freezer.

Make approximately 16

My Frozen Peanut Butter Cream Pie (Dairy Free)

I absolutely love peanut butter. I know lots of people do but unlike most people it's not something I grew up eating. In fact I don't ever remember having it as a kid. I do remember craving it when I was pregnant though and ate stacks of spelt toast with peanut butter and a sprinkle of sea salt all 3 times!

We only buy the good stuff these days, that is freshly ground 100% peanut butter with no oils or salt or anything else added. It's brilliant on crunchy green apple or even just straight from the tub on a spoon.

I was in the mood for something sweet and cool and peanut-buttery and came up with this gorgeous pie for dessert one weekend way back when I should have been packing for our move. I made it again last month and it was equally delicious. A crunchy chocolate base topped with smooth and creamy filling that was almost like ice cream. Yum!

I splurged on medjool dates for this which you can find in the fresh food section of Coles and Woolies near the herbs. You could definitely use regular dried dates instead they may just take a little extra blitzing for the filling to become really smooth.

This sets hard in the freezer so be sure to take it out at least 20 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

My Frozen Peanut Butter Cream Pie (Dairy Free)

Base:
200g raw almonds
75g medjool dates
20g coconut oil
20g raw cacao
pinch salt

Place all ingredients into the food processor and blitz until the mixture forms sticky crumbs (TMX 30 secs / SP 5). Press the mixture into the base of an 8 inch spring form pan lined with baking paper and place into the freezer while your prepare the filling.

Filling:
200g natural peanut butter
60g medjool dates
270ml coconut cream
30ml milk of choice
20g maple syrup or raw honey

Wipe out the processor (no need to wash it) and add all ingredients. Process until smooth, around 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on your machine (TMX 30 secs / SP 7). Pour over the prepared base and place back into the freezer to set for 4-6 hours or overnight.

Remove from the freezer at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serves 8

Menu Plan Monday (8th February)

How did your meal planning go last week? Did you need to make any changes to your plan? We did!

I hadn't bargained on just how hot it was going to be and with temps in the high 30s for a few days, I had no desire to turn on the oven, or even eat dinner at all those nights to be honest.

Our baked chicken drumsticks became slow cooked teriyaki chicken in lettuce cups, and our chicken and corn risotto became chicken and salad rolls. Much more appropriate!

So even when you've made your menu plan don't be afraid to switch things up a bit if they're not working. Oh and make sure you check the weather forecast too!

What's for dinner this week ...

Monday - Sausages with pumpkin quinoa salad

Tuesday - Zucchini fritters

Wednesday - Veggie-loaded Dairy Free Lasagna

Thursday - Slow cooked Beef Madras with cauliflower rice

Friday - Pumpkin soup with focaccia

Saturday - DIY

Sunday - Roast chicken with roast veggies

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