Raw Paw Paw Smoothies

1 quarter of a fresh paw paw, chopped, with seeds removed
2 cups non-dairy milk (almond/oat/rice ...)
1/2 cup yogurt (I used sheeps)
1 tbs flaxseed oil
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped.
2 tbs honey/maple syrup
1/2 cup almond meal

Put all ingredients together into the blender and whizz together until you are sure the apple is well blended and it is a lovely creamy orange colour. My children love it.

Pumpkin and Pecan Cookies

1/2 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup mashed pumpkin
2 1/2 cups flour (I used a combination of rice/buckwheat/besan/tapicoa)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp xantham gum
1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup pepitas
2 tsp pumpkin spice (mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg)
pecans


METHOD
Cream coconut butter and brown sugar together.
Add eggs, vanilla and molasses/syrup and keep beating.
Stir in mashed pumpkin.
Sift flours, baking powder, spices and xanthum gum together, then stir into mixture with the almond meal and pepitas.

Place dollops of mixture on a baking tray and position a pecan on top.
Bake in a moderate oven until cooked through.

I don't think this recipe is exactly what I did - mine turned out a bit chewy and I think I may have changed things as I wrote them down. Have a play and give me some feedback on this recipe.

They are still yummy!

I would recommend storing them in the freezer and defrosting them before you want to eat them. Like all gluten-free baked goods these are best eaten the day you make them.

Pumpkin is the new Tomato! Pumpkin Bolognaise and Home-made Pasta

I just had to write a quick blog to tell you about my dinner tonight!! It was so yummy.

It can be made vegetarian without the mince. Just as delicious.

Pumpkin Bolognaise with Home Made Rice and Corn Pasta

1/4 of a large home-grown pumpkin, chopped

1 onion

garlic (as much as you like)

your favourite spices  (I used cinnamon, cumin, salt and pepper tonight)

ghee

250g mince

water

coconut cream (optional)

home-made pasta

Saute the onion, garlic, pumpkin and spices in the ghee until the pumpkin has begun roasting a little on the outside and the onion and garlic are softened. I cooked the mince separately and added it after the sauce was made, but I suppose you could cook it all together. I like one-pot meals. Less to wash up 

Add a little water – just enough to cook the pumpkin through.

Mash up the pumpkin  with a potato masher. It doesn’t have to be silky smooth. I like mine textured.

If you think your bolognaise sauce is a little thin you can thicken it a bit with some arrowroot flour and/or pour a little coconut cream into it. I did both because I was making it up on the spot. The coconut lightens the colour, and gives the sauce a sweet, smooth and creamy taste. I like it.

Serve it on top of home-made pasta made with this recipe from The W.H.O.L.E Gang – one of my favourite gluten-free cooking blogs. This pasta is super easy to make and super quick to cook. Best of all you can make twice the amount, roll it flat and freeze it for future meals.

Tonight I made our pasta with 2/3 brown rice flour and 1/3 maize flour. The recipe recommends rolling it thin enough to read newspaper from but mine was thicker than that. I rolled it between two floured (with rice flour) sheets of baking paper, rather than the plastic wrap suggested in the recipe. I found it much easier to peel off the paper and pop in the water.

Our pasta was thick and chewy, it cooked in just a few minutes and was delicious with the pumpkin sauce, although I couldn’t help wishing for a bit of parmesan cheese to sprinkle through it. I have just learned that pecorino cheese, made from sheep’s milk, can be used like parmesan, so I”ll be hunting some of that down for the next time we eat this yummy dinner.

Yet again, our dinner was consumed before a photo was taken.

Yay! I can eat bolognaise again. I think I’m starting to get over tomatoes now that I’ve realised that life can go on without them!

Sunflower Slice

I was looking for a gluten-free slice that was choc-full of seeds like the amaranth slice I bought from Mrs Flanneries last week - sooooo sweet and yummy! It is preferrable if you have soaked and then dried all your nuts and seeds first, but I was in too much of a hurry for something sweet. It is Easter and it is challenging watching everyone else eat chocolate! This is what I came up with:

1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup quinoa flakes
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup puffed millet
1/2 chopped nuts
1/2 cup honey / maple syrup
1/2 cup ghee / coconut oil
1/2 tahini

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
Melt honey and ghee in a saucepan until blended.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients then add the tahini.
Mix it well. It should be pretty sticky!
Spread it on a tray that you have greased well or lined with baking paper.
Cook in a moderate oven until golden on top.
Cool before cutting into squares.

No-Tomato Pasta Sauce

I’m really missing tomatoes.

I eat them in my salad, with my pasta as a sauce and as an ingredient in most of the meals I cook. I’ve recently made meatloaf without tomato sauce and that was fine and I can make a yummy dairy-free and gluten-free veggie lasagne with a pumpkin sauce … but how do you enjoy spaghetti bolognaise without tomatoes? It was dreams of spaghetti bolognaise that broke me in my vegetarianism during my first pregnancy and we have continued to eat it almost fortnightly ever since. It is a good fall-back meal when you’ve run out of ideas to feed the family – and my bolognaise sauce is always pumped full of grated carrots and zuchini, mushrooms, beans … whatever else I can find. It is hard to do without a reliable fall-back meal!!

Today I found a recipe that is perfect and I challenge you to make it and give it to your family and see if they notice the difference! It was so yummy, it looked even redder than tomato pasta sauce, it was as sweet and flavoursome and the texture was just perfect. I am looking forward to using this sauce as a ketchup (add a bit more vinegar and maple syrup), a pizza sauce (when I master gluten-free bases) and in gluten-free lasagne too. Mmm maybe even for baked beans … I still haven’t mastered home-made baked beans …have had a pot of beans cooking in the oven ALL day and still the beans are a little on the crunchy side, even with a 24 soak and ages of boiling even before beginning the recipe (but that is another story!)

I found the original recipe for the nightshade-free sauce HERE – but of course in the process of cooking there were a few changes made, so I feel ok about putting the recipe up on this blog. I will post it in the Kitchen Garden when Blogger lets me!

No-Tomato Pasta Sauce

3 carrots,

1/2 beetroot

2/3 cup of water

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

3 tbs lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt

sprinkle of dried herbs or a chopped handful of fresh herbs

1 diced cooked onion

1 clove garlic, crushed.

Steam the carrots and beetroot until they are tender and then blend them together

Cook the onions and garlic with the herbs and add this to the sauce with water and vinegar. Blend it together if you like a smooth sauce or just mix well if you like a bit of texture. My husband was making this and he added a bit of maple syrup to the sauce – but I am of the thinking that beets and carrots make it sweet enough.

Add any other ingredients you like: cooked ground meat for bolognaise or beans and spices for mexican.

This recipe made enough for two meals, so I froze the second half.

We ate ours tonight with a bit of cubed cooked ham, mushrooms and green beans and served it on top of home made gluten free fettucine that my husband made in our Samson juicer. The recipe is intended for the dough to be rolled between sheets of plastic wrap, then sliced and cooked … but it didn’t work out tonight. Instead the juicer saved the day and worked wonders for creating tasty pasta noodles to serve with this dish. The cook in just a few minutes!

I thought of taking a photo of our meal about halfway through eating it.

Trust me, it was delicious!

Sprouted Sunflower Seed Patties or Dip

I have recently had to make an adjustment to my diet and am now enjoying foods free of gluten, dairy, soy and nightshades. So I am experimenting with food!

This recipe was initially given to me as a delicious sunflower dip, but I wanted to make some patties that I could keep in the freezer for lunches - as I have been finding lunches a bit of a challenge without bread handy to make yummy sandwiches with - so I added the almond meal, oil and the egg to hold it together. If you leave these ingredients out it will make a really lovely sunflower dip.

1 cup sunflower seeds
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup almond meal
Handful of your favourite herbs (I used parsley)
Your favourite spices (I use cumin, and garam masala)

1 egg

2tbs coconut oil
1 carrot, grated

METHOD
Soak the sunflower seeds overnight. Rinse in the morning and twice during the day. Leave in the bowl until sprouts appear.

Place sunflower seeds, onion, celery, garlic, almond meal and herbs into the blender and pulse until mixed well. Add egg and coconut oil and blend again until well mixed. If mixture looks too dry add a little bit more oil.

Spoon mixture into a bowl and stir through grated carrot.

Form into patties. If they go in the fridge for about half an hour they will be nice and firm for cooking.

Cook under the grill or in a pan with a bit of ghee or oil.

Serve with your favourite dipping sauce and salad or cool on a tray and wrap individually in cling wrap or between sheets of baking paper in a container for storing in the freezer. This way you can take out patties 1 at a time as you need them.

Simone's Magic Muffins

Another of my friends posted this delicious muffin recipe - perfect for lunchboxes.

http://theeverydaymum.blogspot.com/2010/02/simones-magic-muffins.html