First Day Back at School

Well, it is the first day back at school for Master H (Year 5) and Miss A (Year 3).  We are lucky that they have both kept the same teacher as last year, so no need to break in a new one!  I love that we already have a good rapport and working realtionship with both teachers in regards to dietary and health needs.  Makes life so much easier!

Amongst the hustle and bustle of the first day, with hair brushing, tieing new shoes and making sure all new drink bottles and hats are labeled, the kids didn't feel like a proper breakfast.  As they both love the King William Chocolate smoothies from Boost, I have made a fair copy that they enjoy on those days when they don't want to eat.  As this had a lot of milk in it, I had to change it up a bit this morning to cater for Master H not being able to tolerate dairy.

I will give you both recipes to do with as you will, my kids love them!

KING WILLIAM CHOCOLATE RECIPE

Ingredients

1 cup milk

1/3 cup Greek Yoghurt

1 banana, frozen

2 scoops vanilla ice cream

4 tsp Sustagen Gold Dutch Chocolate

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 handful ice cubes

Method

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Makes two small smoothies.  The frozen banana makes it creamy, and the Sustagen Gold is packed with vitamins.

DAIRY FREE KING WILLIAM CHOCOLATE RECIPE

Ingredients

1 cup Quinoa and Chia milk (or your preferred choice)

2 tbsp Quinoa Flakes

2 tbsp Coconut Yoghurt

2 scoops Soy Vanilla Ice Cream

1 banana, frozen

4 tsp cocoa powder

1 handful ice cubes

Method

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  

Voila! An easy brekky for fussy kids that tastes good.  Also a lot cheaper than buying smoothies, too!

Australia Day!

Well, it has been over a year since I posted on my blog.  A lot has happened this year that has made it difficult for me to find the time.  I suffered from exceptionally poor health, we struggled with Miss A's health as well, and she had two anaphylactic episodes.  We also found that she can go anaphylactic from the smell or touch of nut products, but does have time to use an epipen and get to hospital so that is good.  Master H has developed a lactose intolerance as well, so food has been fun.

Good news, I got a Thermomix!  Yay!  For those that don't know what that is, it is an all in one kitchen machine.  It makes cooking so much easier as you can mill your own seeds or grains into flour, crush anything from ice to fruit, knead dough, steam and boil, whip, make ice cream, so much!  I use it all the time.

My inspiration for blogging today is the beautiful Australia Day.  In true Australian form, we had a BBQ.  As the dairy free inclusion in our diet is only 3 days old, I was struggling to come up with an allergy free menu, that would satisfy our guests who eat 'normal' food.  What a challenge!  For starters, all the sausages I saw in the shop had onion and garlic in them so were not suitable.  I eventually found some British Pork sausages which did not have them in, but was thinking we would have to have a BBQ without the snags.  Sacrilege!

Here is what I came up with for a menu:
Hamburgers (recipe previously posted)
Coleslaw
Potato and Mustard Salad
Potato chips
Quinoa crumbed chicken
Green salad
Pork sausages (British Pork from Ottoway Pork)
Pork patties (Ottoway Pork)
Oriental Rice Salad
Gluten and dairy free cheesecake
fruit platter
meringue nests (Coles)
assorted hamburger rolls, both normal and wheat free
Orange-ade

The day went by so fast I did not get a chance to take any pics, but will add some at a later date if I make again.

First, the coleslaw.  This is a recipe from the Thermomix Community by daniellehcp.  Here is the link:  www.recipecommunity.com.au/side-dishes-recipes/coleslaw/117912

I made my own mayonnaise, in the Thermie of course!  It was super easy and really yummy.  The beauty of making my own is that I know exactly what is in it and can cater to our personal tastes.  The mayonnaise recipe is out of the Thermomix Basic Cook Book.  I just used vegetable oil.

MAYONNAISE

Ingredients
250g Grapeseed or Safflower Oil
1 Egg, room temperature
1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
1-2 tsp prepared mustard (optional)
2 pinches ground black pepper (optional)
1/2 tsp salt

Method
Place a jug onto the mixing bowl lid, weigh oil into jug and set aside.

Place egg, lemon juice or vinegar, mustard (if using), pepper (if using) and salt into mixing bowl.  Mix 1 min 30 sec/ Speed 4 while very slowly pouring reserved oil onto upturned measuring cup, letting it drizzle into mixing bowl to emulsify.  Transfer mayonnaise into bowl and serve immediately or transfer into an airtight jar and store in refrigerator.

Non Thermomix Method
Place egg, lemon juice or vinegar, mustard (if using), pepper (if using) and salt into a blender or kitchen whiz.  Mix slowly, as you drizzle oil through hole in lid to emulsify.

This Mayonnaise is not strong flavoured, so if you want more of a 'kick' you could probably add some lime juice or extra acid, and some spices.  If you are adding to salads with other flavours, it is perfect as it is!

Next I made the potato and mustard salad.  This is a quick, delicious salad that my cousin made.  Thanks Nicole!  It is easy, yummy and looks impressive.

POTATO AND MUSTARD SALAD

Ingredients
6 potatoes, peeled
4 eggs, hard boiled and peeled
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tbsp mayonnaise

Method
Dice potatoes and boil until soft, drain and transfer to a large bowl.  Add mustard and mayonnaise while still hot and stir to combine.  Cut eggs into quarters, and add to the salad.  Mix softly to not break the eggs.  Chill or serve while still warm.

As some of the people at the BBQ dislike mayonnaise and mustard, I also cut potatoes into thin slices to BBQ so there was a plain option too.

I will also give you the recipe for the cheesecake.  If you don't have a Thermomix, you should still be able to do this by hand.  Just use your muscles to mix in the cream cheese nice and smooth, but a kitchen whiz could probably do it as well.

This is a recipe from the Recipe Community, but it is for a normal cheesecake.  I will retype the recipe as I made a few changes to it.  The original recipe was by shelleyjkemp.

NO BAKE STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE

Ingredients
Base
150g Orgran Shortbread Hearts
50g Gluten Free Weet-Bix
50g Nuttelex

Filling
500g soy cream cheese
400g coconut condensed milk
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp gelatine
1/4 cup boiling water
250g strawberries, chopped

Coconut Condensed Milk
1L Coconut Milk
200g Rice Malt Syrup

Method
Place the Coconut Milk and Rice Malt Syrup into the jug of your Thermomix (or onto the stove, but I do not have times for this).  Cook 90 mins/100deg C, Speed 4.  Transfer the Condensed Milk to a bowl to chill.

Clean and dry your jug.  Add biscuits to your TM bowl and crush for 5 secs, Speed 7.  Set aside.

Add Nuttelex to bowl and melt for 3 mins, 60 deg, Speed 1.  Add reserved crumbs and mix 3 secs, Speed 4.

Press into a lined 20cm Springform tin.

In a dry clean TM bowl, add the soy cream cheese and beat for 10 secs, Speed 5.  Add Condensed Milk and lemon juice and beat for 10 secs, Speed 5.  Mix gelatine with boiling water and add with chopped strawberries to TM bowl, mixing for 3-5 secs/Reverse/Speed 4.  Pour onto base.

Chill for at least 3 hours.

Serve with whipped cream or coconut yoghurt for dairy free.

Everyone loved the food, which left me with a sense of pride.  It took me a week to come up with the menu, with near insurmountable allergies, intolerance and fussiness to deal with, and I came out the other side with success.  It helps with all those times I fail, which when you have to change recipes so much does happen, often!

Let me know if you have any successes or failures.  It happens to all of us!

Strawberry Shortcake

It was my dad's birthday a while back, and when thinking of the birthday cake, which I obviously offered to prepare, I drew a blank.  You can only make mudcake so many times.  We are all getting sick of it.  I remembered seeing a recipe in the ones my mum got from the library for Strawberry Shortcake (which was a red headed doll in my day!) and thought I would give it a go.

Being a sponge-type cake I was dubious.  The gluten free ones I have tried in the past have a nasty after taste and are just 'not quite right' in the consistency/texture feel.  They have always been a big disappointment.

I tried this one, and although it is still a different consistency to a normal sponge, it works with the cream and strawberries.  Looks pretty nice too, if I do say so myself.  The recipe comes from Lola, so here goes.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
INGREDIENTS
100g castor sugar
2 tsp butter
1 tbsp glycerine (edible - from supermarkets and cake decorating shops)
4 tbsp hot water
100g gluten free plain flour
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
2 tsp vanilla essence

Filling:
1 punnet strawberries
250 ml cream
2 tbsp pure icing sugar
few drops vanilla essence

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180C.  Grease sides and line the bottom of 2x20cm round cake tins.

Place the eggs and sugar in a large metal or glass bowl and hand whisk over a saucepan of hot water until the mixture is slightly warm and frothy.  Remove from the heat and continue beating with an electric beater until the mixture is thick and creamy, but not stiff.  In a separate bowl, add the glycerine and butter to the hot water and let stand for 1 minute.  Fold the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture.  Mix in the vanilla and glycerine mixture.  Fold lightly but thoroughly.  Pour into prepared tins and bake for 30 mins.  Let stand for at least 1 minute before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Beat cream until thickened and add the icing sugar and vanilla.  Continue beating until stiff.  Reserve strawberries for decoration, and thinly slice the rest.

Place down your base cake (the least pretty of your two cakes) and spread thickly with cream.  Top with a layer of strawberries.  Place the other cake on top.  Pipe swirls of cream on to the top and decorate with strawberries.  To fan you slice thinly, but not all the way through.  Fan with fingers.  When decorated, sprinkle the entire cake with icing sugar to serve.

Yummo!  A great cake to take to someone's house or to share with a cuppa!  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Chocolate Gelato

Wow, we have had such a busy week!  Mstr H has been sick all week with a nasty virus.  I hate those vague viruses!  He is really lethargic, has a nasty cough and occasionally asthma.  Such a pain.  This has led to a lot of 'stay at home' time, but very little time to actually achieve anything.  We have also been getting together some donations to help the people in Ormoc in the Philippines after a typhoon wiped out the entire area.  So sad and so many people affected.

With all of this happening, we have been using the BBQ a lot for dinner.  I just get the meat out, cook the veg and hubby takes care of the rest!  We are even planning a BBQ Christmas this year.  Who needs a big roast, when we have prawn kebabs, salmon fillets and marinaded lamb chops instead?  Also taste testing a recipe to make a frozen Christmas pudding.  I thought choc chip strawberry icecream, vanilla bean ripple and all encased in rich chocolate fudge icecream.  Will let you know how I go.

We have also been experimenting with glucose powder as a way to introduce Miss A to some higher fructose foods.  She is loving banana smoothies with yoghurt, a handful of strawberries, rice bran and some glucose powder.  I am hoping this will mean she can eat some cherries at Christmas, by mixing them into an icecream and using the glucose to balance out the fructose.  Feeling like a mad scientist!

I also have to share the break through we have had with Miss A's eczema.  I saw an article on a current affairs show for Robertsons Skin Repair.  This is an ointment that is all natural, basically made up of cod liver oil and oatmeal, and it actually works!  You apply 3 times a day, and in our case, the eczema has cleared up.  We no longer need to use steroid creams and Miss A has a lovely smooth face free of scabs!  She is no longer itchy all the time or oozing and bleeding.  Her skin is smooth, and free of the roughness she has always had.  It is not a cure, if we don't use the eczema comes back, but it is making it liveable for us.

On to the promised recipe!  In South Australia, we have always called Italian ice cream 'gelati', so I was confused when I saw all the signage changing to 'gelato'.  Was it the same stuff, or something different?  Was it a change inspired by America, like so many of our language changes are?  The answer is that it is the same, and that the change has come from us calling it the wrong name for all those years.  Who knew?  Will be hard to make the change!  So given all of this, I googled to find Miss A's favourite flavour, chocolate!  I found this low fat recipe on taste.com.au, and it is fantastic!  It uses cornflour to make the custard base, rather than egg yolks.  I will try this method on other flavours!

CHOCOLATE GELATO
INGREDIENTS
3 cups skim milk
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 tbs gluten free cornflour
3/4 cup gluten free cocoa

METHOD
Whisk together 1 cup milk with the sugar, cornflour and cocoa.  Place the remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add the cocoa mixture and continue heating until it thickens.  As it starts to thicken, remove from the heat and stir periodically.  Using the gluten free cornflour means that it will thicken on standing.

Cool to room temperature, chill for an hour.  Place in ice cream maker.  Yum!

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Party Time! How to make Marshmallows, Rice Krispie Treats and Ice Cream Cake!

Mstr H is 9!  Can you believe it?  I can't!  He is getting so old!  He had his birthday yesterday, and asked for Minecraft Creeper Rice Krispie Treats to take to school, and a lasagne cook up and ice cream cake for dinner last night.  So I went to work.  I love doing lasagne night, we do normal meat with nomato sauce and make a second one of spinach and mushroom.  Everyone eats up big!  I even make some GF garlic bread for Miss A (I used a tiny amount of Garlic and some herbs in her mix.  Next time will use garlic chives instead.)  As I always fail when I try to make marshmallow in the 'cook' method, I scoured the internet for a no-cook marshmallow.  I found one!  It was posted by Jody on stayathomemum.com.au.  Here it is:

NO COOK GLUTEN FREE MARSHMALLOW

INGREDIENTS
2 cups white sugar
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp gelatine
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD
Dissolve the gelatine in the boiling water.  In a large stand mixer, place the sugar in a clean bolw and pour in the gelatine mixture and salt.  Beat on the highest setting for approx 10-15 mins or until the marshmallow is really thick and white.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  If you are making Rice Krispie Treats, add a whole pack of GF rice bubbles, mix, colour if necessary and press in a greased lamington pan.  Refrigerate until set.  If making marshmallow bunnies, grease your moulds and press in the marshmallow.  Refrigerate until set.  If you are making marshmallows to coat in coconut, grease a lamington pan and press in the marshmallow.  Refrigerate until set, cut into squares and roll in coconut.

See how easy it is?  I added the rice bubbles and some green food colouring and made chocolate Creeper faces.  I put these on the mix while still sticky.  When set, I cut out the squares and we were done!  Gluten, wheat, nut, egg free, fructose friendly Minecraft Creeper Rice Krispie Treats!  If you use Agar Agar instead of gelatine, and vegan chocolate for the faces, you can make vegan easily too.

After the success of the treats above, I set about trying to find a gf cheese sauce that actually works, and I found one!  The sauce in our lasagnes was perfect, so I have to share it.  The trick, it appears, is not to cook the butter and flour and make a roux, but to just mix them together, add the milk, and wait for it to thicken.  This recipe was found on a site called Carla's Gluten Free Recipe Box and I will definitely be going there again.

GLUTEN FREE BECHAMEL OR WHITE SAUCE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS
4 tbsp butter
1 Tbsp Tapioca flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated cheese (optional - if making a cheese sauce)

METHOD
Melt butter in a frying pan.  Do not allow to burn.  Whisk in flour.  Slowly pour in milk while whisking constantly.  Cook and continue to whisk until it thickens to the required consistency.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese if using.

It is the first time I have actually had a gf cheese sauce work.  I doubled the amounts and it was so perfect!  Yummm!

Now to the fun stuff!  The Ice Cream Cake.  I know it isn't pretty, but trust me, the taste was incredible!  Everyone ate a huge piece and was tossing around flavours for our Christmas Ice Cream Pudding!  I think strawberry and coconut won!  I just need to work on my presentation............lol.

To start with, I made my Simple Vanilla Ice Cream out of the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet I got with my Ice Cream Maker.  I lined a cake tin with Glad Wrap, and put half of the ice cream in and pressed down tight.  I placed the tin in the freezer to harden.  Then I added 1 tbsp of cocoa to the rest of the ice cream.  It made a light chocolate taste that was not too overpowering.  I placed that bowl in the freezer too as it was quite melted by then.

Next I brewed a decaffinated coffee pod in our coffee machine and refrigerated that.  Then I crushed up a pack of plain chocolate gluten free biscuits, the Macro brand double choc ones but any will do, and put a layer of that on the vanilla ice cream, and smoothed the chocolate ice cream over the top.  Back in the freezer it went.  Now is the good bit!  I whipped up 600 mls of thickened cream and added 2/3 cup icing sugar.  Just as it got really stiff, I added half of the shot of coffee and mixed it in.  This was then spread on top of the chocolate ice cream to make a harder base (when you turn the cake out).  Back in the freezer for at least 2 hours to get really hard.

20 mins before you cut it, you need to take it out of the freezer to soften slightly, and turn out onto a plate.  And voila!  You too can have an ugly, but delicious, ice cream cake!  Now to work on making to pretty for next time!  I love that the ice cream is home made for this, it gives a great sense of achievement, even if I did cheat by using ready-made biscuits!

If you want the ice cream recipe, you can find in one of my previous posts.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Spinach and Mushroom Lasagne and Simple Chocolate Ice Cream

Looking at my past blog posts, I notice that we have been eating a lot of red meat.  Although there are reasons, Miss A is low in iron, I still felt that I needed to balance out our diet.  This prompted me to investigate some fish options and some vegetarian options.  The lasagne recipe below is not technically vegetarian, as I use beef stock in the sauce, but you can substitute that for vegetable stock if you prefer.  I also do not make my own pasta, I have not found a GF recipe that works for me, so I have used the San Remo GF mini lasagne sheets.  These have a fairly chewy consistency, so if you can get them, I recommend the frozen sheets that are fresher when thawed.  I have not included a bechamel sauce recipe as mine has failed the last 2 times I have tried to make it.  I will trial a new recipe and keep you posted.

I have also included a simple ice cream recipe.  I usually make the custard based ice creams, but these simple ones are great on the side of a nice dessert, and the kids love them in cones.  Mstr H will prefer these to the store bought ones, even though he has no dietary needs at all.  He just likes the taste!  Homemade ice cream has a freshness you just can't get in a plastic tub!

We have hit birthday season with Miss A's bday a few weeks ago, Craig's in just over a week and Mstr H's in 4 weeks.  I have decided to discard the idea of catering for Mstr H's party, and will just order in some pizzas for the boys, while taking Miss A to the movies.  Much easier than trying to make party food for a heap of 9 year old boys!  Although I am loving that I make the food my kids eat, there are times when I need to take a break and let someone else do the cooking.


SPINACH AND MUSHROOM LASAGNE

INGREDIENTS
GF lasagne sheets
1L bechamel cheese sauce
500g sliced mushrooms
500g baby spinach leaves
100g baby kale leaves
100g rocket, chopped finely
1 cup Nomato sauce
2 cups beef stock (optional - can be substituted for vegetable stock)
2 cups grated Colby cheese
Mixed herbs and spices
Knob butter, dairy free spread, or oil, as preferred

METHOD
Melt butter, spread or heat oil in a large frypan.  Saute mushrooms lightly.  Add spinach, kale and rocket and cook until wilted.  Add Nomato sauce, stock and herbs and spices to taste.  Be aware that the rocket has a pepper taste, so you may not need to add more pepper.  Simmer until reduced and sauce is thick.

Preheat oven to 180C.  In a lasagne dish, put a layer of mushroom sauce, a layer of bechamel sauce, a layer of pasta.  Repeat.  Top with remaining bechamel sauce and grated cheese.  Bake for 45 mins.


SIMPLE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM (from the Cuisinart Ice Cream booklet)

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup cocoa
2/3 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
1 cup whole milk (I use skim)
2 cups thickened cream
1/2 tbsp vanilla essence

METHOD
In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, salt and cocoa.  Add milk and whisk until sugar has dissolved.  Add remaining ingredients, and mix until combined.  Here, the recipe suggests refridgerating for 2 hours, but I put straight in ice cream maker.

Churn in ice cream maker until frozen, about 20 mins.  Will need to be put in freezer for about 20 mins to firm up.

Let me know what you think in the comments!  My next installment - Veal Scallopini Funghi!  Yum!

Old School Beef Casserole with Cheesy Polenta Dumplings and Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

It has been a while since my last post because my husband and I had a lovely weekend away in the Clare Valley.  The food and wine was spectacular and we had a great stay at the Clare Country Club.  I definitely recommend it.  Beautiful view of the lake, great food, great service.  Meanwhile, on the home front, the kids were sick, so we have had a busy few days with doctors appointments and just looking after little people.

I thought I would share with you this great casserole dish that I got from my Granny when she was still with us.  It is a lovely, homely recipe with the surprise of the cheese dumplings to soak up all the juices.  It is a complete meal in itself and needs no sides.  I have, of course, tweaked it a bit to make it allergy friendly.  Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments.  I believe it was originally published in a Readers Digest cookbook called One-Dish Meals, the Easy Way, but has been altered a few times since then.

OLD SCHOOL BEEF CASSEROLE WITH CHEESY POLENTA DUMPLINGS

INGREDIENTS
1.5 kg chuck steak, cut into cubes
1/4 cup maize flour
generous pinch salt and pepper
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 leek, chopped
2 sticks celery
2 green capsicums, cored and sliced into rings
1 cup homemade beef stock (see previous post)
2 cups Nomato sauce (see previous post)
1/4 cup tamari soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
Mixed herbs and spices to taste

Dumplings:
3 cups water
Good pinch salt
1 cup polenta
30g butter or dairy free spread
1 cup grated Colby cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
Paprika for garnish

METHOD
Dredge the cubed beef in flour, salt and pepper.  In a frypan, heat the oil until smoking, add the beef and brown for 6-7 mins.  Place in a large casserole dish.  To the frypan, add the veg and cook for 5 mins, stirring occasionally.  Add the sauces, stock, herbs and spices and bring to boil.  Put into the casserole dish with the beef and mix to combine.  Place in a 180C oven and bake for an hour.

Prepare the dumplings.  Bring the water to a boil and add the polenta and salt.  Reduce to low heat and simmer for 15 mins stirring occasionally.  When thickened, remove from the heat and beat in the butter, cheese and egg.  Remove the casserole from the oven, and arrange the polenta in mounds on the top.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Return to the oven for 30 mins.


To follow and extravaganza of this nature, you need something simple.  Here is a really simple Vanilla Ice Cream recipe that I got out of the cookbook for my icecream machine.  I refuse to buy icecream for my kids as it is such a hotbed of additives, sugar and, unfortunately, wheat in that sneaky glucose syrup.  By making my own, which only takes a few minutes of prep, I know what they are eating, as well as the quality of my ingredients.  This recipe comes from the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet and it is really yummy.  It is smooth and creamy with a strong vanilla taste, perfect on a chocolate pudding or in a GF cone.

SIMPLE VANILLA ICE CREAM

INGREDIENTS
1 cup whole milk (I use skim and it is lovely)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 cups thickened cream (I use light)
1 tbsp pure vanilla essence

METHOD
Whisk together sugar, salt and milk, until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the cream and essence and mix to combine.

Here, the recipe suggests you chill for 2 hours, but I have found pouring straight into the ice cream maker works fine.  Refrigerate if you like, or just churn until frozen.  This will be a very soft consistency, so you will need to freeze for a short time to firm it up.  Store in an airtight container in the freezer.

Makes 5 cups of ice cream.

Gluten Free and Fructose Friendly Coffee Scrolls

Day 2 of our influenza quarantine, and I got a little bit bored.  Miss A spent most of the day sleeping, not surprising considering she has a 40C temperature, and there is only so much television you can watch.  Mstr H was off at school, Daddy at work, so it was just me and Sleeping Beauty.  I decided to watch Great Australian Bake Off, to see dozens of golden, shiny, dripping in deliciousness coffee scrolls, and thought to myself, what a shame you can't make lovely bakes like that that are gluten free.  The sultanas rule out the fructose quota, and you just can't get gluten free dough that you can knead.

I sat there for a while, thinking about the deliciousness, and also contemplating the cruelty of no caramel ice cream, due to not being able to use brown sugar (high fructose), so I decided to play with a couple of recipes.  The ice cream was a disaster, it turns out I burned the caramel and it tasted wrong.  I will try again.  The scrolls are lovely.  With all this creative energy, I completely forgot to cook dinner, so Daddy came home and there I was, up to my elbows in baking, the kitchen looking like a war zone, and no dinner to be seen.  Oops!

Being a lovely guy, he whipped up some quesadillas while I finished up and we ate late.

Back to the scrolls.  They are not like the usual wheat scrolls, they are not as light and they did not rise like a normal scroll would.  Having said that, they are still soft and sweet and taste lovely with a cuppa.

COFFEE SCROLLS

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cup warm water
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup oil
3 tbsp dry yeast
sprinkle salt
2 tbsp GFG (gluten free gluten - available at any supermarket)
3 1/2 cups GF plain flour
2 cups rice flour

FILLING
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter

METHOD
Place the water, sugar, oil and yeast in a medium bowl, mix and leave to activate for 15 mins.  Add the salt, gfg and flours and mix until smooth.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead.  Yes, this dough will knead like a normal dough!  Knead for 10 mins and shape into a rectangle.  Roll out into a long rectangle, and cut off any messy edges.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the filling.  Brush dough with the butter and sprinkle liberally with the sugar mixture.  Starting with the long side of the rectangle, roll into a tight scroll.  Cut into 12 even scrolls.

Place on a line baking tray, and brush the tops of the scrolls with left over butter.  Bake at 200C for 15 mins.  Remove from oven and put on wire rack to cool.

When cool, ice with coffee frosting.  Dissolve 1 tsp of granulated coffee in a tbsp hot water.  Add icing sugar until desired texture is reached.  Drizzle if thin, or spread on scrolls.

Let me know what you think in the comments!  If you are wondering about the pink plate, we have a whole pink section in the house as a way to prevent cross contamination or diet errors.  If I cook something that is not ok for Miss A to eat, I will make her food on the pink plate, using pink utensils and she knows that is safe food.  Makes for less chance of mistakes at parties.

Coconut Frozen Yoghurt

Health update for today - Miss A has the flu!  She is quarantined until Sunday, meaning a missed birthday party, missing out on ballet and a miserable little girl.  She is fighting high fevers, grumbles and asthma attacks, pretty worrying actually.  So we are still in comfort food mode, leading to me posting about her favourite 'feel better' food, homemade coconut frozen yoghurt.

I have an icecream maker, thanks to Mum, and it is amazing.  We like to try different flavours, and all organic.  I love knowing exactly what is in it, without all the rubbish.  Icecream can be a lot of hard work, between cooking the custard mix, and the chilling time, but frozen yoghurt has none of that.  Mix and churn, baby!

COCONUT FROZEN YOGHURT

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cups greek yoghurt
3/4 cups caster sugar
few drops essence

 METHOD
If you have a normal icecream churner/maker, remember to freeze your bowl the night before.  These machines work by freezing the mixture as churning it, so have to be really cold.  If you are making by hand, freeze the mixture, beating every hour or so until frozen.

Mix together all the ingredients until the sugar is dissolved.  Place in churner until frozen.  As the yoghurt tends to set very hard, I freeze in individual serves.  After churning, the yoghurt will be very soft, so you need to freeze for an hour before it is completely set.  My kids love it soft so will usually eat it straight out of the machine!  Serve on its own, with fresh fruit or topped with toasted coconut.

VARIATIONS

VANILLA FROZEN YOGHURT
Swap the coconut milk for greek yoghurt, omit the coconut essence, add 1 tsp vanilla essence.  For a more decadent yoghurt, add a vanilla bean to the mix.

CHOCOLATE FROZEN YOGHURT
Swap the coconut milk for greek yoghurt, add 1 tbsp cocoa powder, omit the coconut essence.  Add choc chips by grating some good quality dark chocolate, we like Lindt 70%.

COFFEE FROZEN YOGHURT
Swap the coconut milk for greek yoghurt, add 2 tbsp prepared strong coffee (we use organic decaffinated), omit the coconut essence, add choc chips as per Chocolate Frozen Yoghurt.

I hope you enjoy this sweet treat as much as we do.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate Cupcakes and Mocha Mudcake

Yesterday was Miss A's 7th birthday, and it was so busy!  By the time I made 36 mini vegan doughnuts (see my link to Chocolate Covered Katies blog in a previous post), topped with pink icing and sprinkles for school, 12 chocolate panda cupcakes and a large panda mocha mudcake, I was all worn out!  I was disappointed when the children who eat normal food did not like my creations, but most of the adults and kids who are used to GF did.  Proves that GF is an acquired taste.  It also meant that Miss A got to eat 10 of the doughnuts, so she was in heaven!  Surprisingly we didn't even get a full out for the amount of sugar she consumed, so I was really happy.  I felt renewed in my efforts that I could give my daughter a beautiful birthday, and not have a sick girl the next day.

Now, I chose pandas because they are cute, and really easy to replicate.  I cheated and bought some of the black candy melts (never again!  Really hard to work with compared to chocolate and the taste was not good either.  Normal dark chocolate next time!) and the ready-made candy eyes.  Now is the easy part, I drew a template of big, panda eye circles in biro on a white sheet of paper, a triangle nose piece and two half circles for ears.  Mstr H did the same, but smaller for the cupcakes.  Then I made a baking paper cone for piping and melted the black candy melts.  If you place baking paper over the templates, you can use it as tracing paper and the set chocolate/candy melts come right off with no fuss.  It also means you can use one template for many shapes.

I melted the chocolate/candy melts and piped the shapes and filled in, and while still wet, placed the candy eyes on top of the eye pieces.

You may think that mocha is a strange flavour for a 7 year old, but you need to understand that with the strict nature of Miss A's diet, her tastes are slightly different to most kids her age.  And yes, I use organic, decaffinated coffee in my cooking, so they get the taste, not the nasties.

The following cake recipes are not mine, they have come from cookbooks, but I am not sure which ones.  Since we started this diet, we have been copying and altering recipes to see us through from books from the library, so this is part of the collection.

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

Dry:

1 1/4 cup gluten free SR flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup Sweet William dairy free choc chips

Wet:

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup water

1 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170C and grease and line a 12 hole muffin tin with patty pans.  Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Make a well in the centre and add wet ingredients.  Mix until they form a batter, but do not mix too much.  Spoon into prepared pans, filling close to the top of each case.  Bake for 15-20 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool in tray for 5 mins before turning onto a wire rack. Top with chocolate frosting or vanilla buttercream when cool.

MOCHA MUDCAKE

INGREDIENTS

3 tbsp strong coffee

250g Sweet William dairy free choc chips

180g Nuttelex

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup fine rice flour

1/4 cup potato flour

1/4 cup maize flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

METHOD

Preheat oven to 160C.  Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin.  Place the coffee, chocolate, Nuttelex, vanilla and cocoa powder in a medium glass bowl.  Set over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water) and stir until melted and well combined.  

Place the sugar and eggs in a large bowl and beat with electric beaters on high for 3-5 mins, or until light, fluffy and doubled in volume.  Gradually fold in the chocolate mixture, stirring gently with a metal spoon to combine.

Sift the flours and xanthan gum three times into a large bowl.  Gradually fold into the chocolate mixture with a metal spoon.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 50-60 mins.  Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin for 15 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

VEGAN VANILLA BUTTERCREAM 

INGREDIENTS

500g pure icing sugar, sifted

250g Nuttelex

1 tbsp vanilla essence

METHOD

Beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Add half the icing sugar and the essence and beat until all the sugar is combined.  Add the remaining icing sugar and beat til light and fluffy.  Add colouring of choice or leave white for a fluffy look.  

To create the panda look, I covered the cake completely in the buttercream, topped with a sprinkle of dessicated coconut for fur and added the chocolate shapes.  Voila!  Easy cake decorating!  haha

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Moroccan Beef and Lentil Casserole

Here we are, day 2 of my Blog, and it has been eventful!  Miss A is still sick, so had to miss the day of school, meaning I had a helper to do the shopping.  Unfortunately, as anyone with unusual allergies or intolerances knows, you cannot buy all your items in one place.  For example, Woolworths has the best GF snacks in their Macro range, but does not sell nut free, wheat free bread.  Coles has a great range of baked goods that are allergy friendly, but does not have the snack range or cake mixes.  Foodland has a good range of bread and cake mixes, but not much else.  This means I have to shop at all three stores, and usually visit a health food shop or two in the bargain.  Makes for a tired, grumpy, sick chick!  To help alleviate her boredom, I have taught her how to read and understand the ingredients on products so she can see for herself what she can eat and what she can't.

Today I did the usual marathon shop, and my Mum sat out the front of the local Woolworths with Miss A, reading and playing games.  During this exchange, a woman stole my Mum's handbag. Thank you to the security guard who found it, and the stranger who handed it in!  We all needed a cuppa after thatt!

As I always do when we leave the house, I pack  a lot of snacks for Miss A because we cannot buy her anything to eat from any food vendors.  This means that she has a lot of snacking on her menu today.  Unfortunately, because a lot of what she can eat is tasteless, and a lot of the spices and herbs are not ok on the Fructose Friendly plan, we let her do the 'grazing' style of eating, rather than expecting her to eat large amounts of food she does not like.

Here is tonight's dinner that I put in the slow cooker this morning, the house smells divine!

MOROCCAN BEEF AND LENTIL CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS
500g chuck steak, cubed
3tsp cumin
3tsp paprika
1tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt for seasoning
2L homemade beef stock (mine was made with leek, celery, green capsicum, beef bones)
3 sticks celery
2 cups red lentils
2 cups Nomato sauce

METHOD
Place beef in a bowl and add the spices, mixing thoroughly.  Heat some oil in a pan and brown the meat.  Add to slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.  Use the instructions of your slow cooker as a guide, I left mine all day.  Serve with steamed veg and mashed potato.

I just love easy cooking like that!  Now I will give you Miss A's eating plan for today:

Breakfast
Quinoa Porridge - 1/4 cup quinoa flakes, 1/4 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup rice milk and cook until the texture of porridge.

Morning Tea
2 vegan mini doughnuts.  I got this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie and love it!  Best doughnuts I have ever eaten.  Here is the link http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/02/22/homemade-krispy-kreme-doughnuts-the-healthy-version/

Lunch
Fried Rice - rice, diced bacon, peas and corn, simple and easy!
1 Quinoa Crumbed KFC drumstick

Afternoon Tea
Coconut Rice Custard
Pumpkin seeds - toasted with cinnamon, vanilla essence sprinkled with sugar

Dinner
Moroccan Beef and Lentil Casserole with mashed potato and steamed green beans
Gluten Free Soda Bread - my favourite wheat free bread recipe, from Doves Farms.  Here is the link http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/gluten-free-soda-bread/

If you have any suggestions on improvements I can make to recipes or to the food I am feeding Miss A, please let me know in the comments.  See you all tomorrow!

Let's try this again..............

Here is my attempt at a blog again.  My last try led to me posting a heap of recipes, only to find that my information was wrong.  So I tried again, and my daughter's medical condition changed and again, my recipes were wrong.  Since my last post 2 years ago, she has had so many diet changes that I have lost count, and none of them have been fun.  To add to the joy, she has been diagnosed with IBS, Fructose Malabsorption and multiple food allergies, and is currently on an elimination diet too.  She still has chronic eczema and has many digestive problems, is low in iron and spends a lot of her time in pain from bloating and abdominal distention.  Basically, she is a mess, but we love her anyway.

With my journey, many of my friends have suggested I document it here to share with other people who may be going through similar things, so here goes.

I won't bore you with all the ins and outs right now, bit by bit on future blogs will be enough whinging for anyone!  Needless to say, we are currently feeding her foods that avoid egg, dairy, soy, fruit (except apricots, lemons and limes and limited strawberries.  She is allergic to wheat, oats, nuts, tomato and mint, and can only eat leafy green veg, potatoes and limited carrots and butternut.

Here are my two favourite recipes for survival - Nomato Sauce and Coconut Rice Custard.  They are easy to make and are a staple food in this house.  I am planning to put up any interesting recipes that I cook, with links to where I got the recipes from.

NOMATO SAUCE

This is a great recipe as it is easy, and can be substituted for pasta sauce, pizza sauce or even for dipping your chips and nuggets in!  It DOES NOT taste like tomato sauce, because it isn't, but is nice and light as a substitute.

INGREDIENTS
1 small beet, peeled and diced
6 carrots, diced
1 leek, diced
1 1/2 cup water
herbs, spices to taste  (don't do too much flavouring as you can do that when you cook with it)

METHOD
Place all ingredients in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid.  Bring to the boil and simmer until veggies are soft.  Blend in a blender or food processor until fairly smooth.  It does not need to be completely smooth as it is a nice veggie sauce.  Use like you would any tomato sauce or paste.


See how easy that is?  It does tend to turn your bolognaise sauce pink, but otherwise is easy to use!

COCONUT RICE CUSTARD

Miss A (who is 6 yo) uses this as a breakfast cereal, to fill up as a dessert or we add some cocoa and freeze as an iceblock.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup arborio rice
400 ml coconut milk
200 ml rice milk or alternative of your choice
2 tbsp sugar

METHOD
Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring up to the bowl.  Simmer for at least 20 mins, stirring often, until it has thickened to a custard consistency.