Happy New Year!

A thought or two for the New Year...

"Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Author Unknown.

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid... for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

- Deuteronomy 31:6.

Happy New Year to all!

Breudher - Dutch New Year's Cake

For our family, New Year's Eve is usually a quiet day at home, with maybe some friends over for dinner, or a special New Year's Eve service at church. I like to cook traditional New Year's recipes on New Year's Eve, one being a rich, buttery yeast cake baked in a fluted mould, called Breudher. I first heard of Breudher in a lovely old cookbook I bought second hand somewhere, named 'Love and A Wooden Spoon.' I completely agree with the author, Charmaine Solomon, on her thoughts about New Year's Eve...

"On New Year's Eve I really like being at home in the quiet of my kitchen, up to the wrists in flour. I just have this feeling that it's a good way to start the year, doing something as basic and comforting as making bread. As I knead and mix and bake I get to thinking that in spite of the gloomy headlines and the unpredictability of life in general, nothing is going to happen that, with God's help, I can't handle."

This is my adapted version of her recipe for Breudher. (The Thermomix version first, the handmade version second.) This recipe makes plenty so you can share some with friends - two large, three medium-sized or four small cakes. Bake in a baba mould, or kugelhupf pan, or tube pan, or if all else fails, loaf tins or deep cake tins. Serve it with slices of cheese and fruit, for a delicious New Year's Eve supper, or for brunch on New Year's Day.

Thermomix Version:

[Note: grind 250g spelt grain first in dry bowl to make wholemeal flour, and set aside for later.]

1. Mix in Thermomix for 2 mins, 80°, speed 4:
- 130g rice/almond milk

- 3 tsp Rapadura or 2 tsp honey

- 2 tsp salt

- 90g butter

2. Add:

- 360g cool water

- 1 T dry yeast

Mix at speed 4 until yeast is dissolved.

3. Add, beating until smooth on speed 6:

- 200g white spelt flour

- 250g wholemeal spelt flour

4. Add and mix on speed 6 until a soft dough forms:

- 450g spelt flour (plain/wholemeal/mixture)

5. Knead on interval setting for 2 mins. If there is too much dough for the bowl, remove half and knead in two lots. If the dough is too soft the motor will begin to labour and you will need to add some more flour through hole in top of lid as it mixes.

6. Place dough into greased bowl and turn dough over so top is greased. Cover with plastic wrap, leave to rise until doubled in size. Clean out Thermomix bowl.

7. While dough is rising, mill for 10 secs on speed 9 :
- 120g Rapadura

8. Fit butterfly attachment, and add:
- 300g soft butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix on speed 4 for 30 seconds, until light and fluffy. Remove butterfly.

9. When dough is ready, punch down and add to creamed mixture in small pieces with Thermomix running at speed 6. Beat until all dough is incorporated, assisting with spatula. (If it seems a bit much for the speed, use interval speed.)

10. Remove half of mixture to a bowl. To the half of the mixture left in Thermomix, add:
- 3 large eggs, beating on speed 6 until incorporated. Remove to large bowl. Repeat with other half of mixture (6 eggs in all) then add to mixture in large bowl.

11. Stir in by hand with wooden spoon:
- 1 1/2 cups sultanas

12. Generously butter cake tins. Put mixture into tins, but don't fill more than half full, as they rise a lot!!



Place tins into cold oven and leave to rise for 10 minutes. Turn oven on to 170° C (350° F) and cook for 30 minutes or so, until golden-brown on top and a skewer in the middles comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 mins, then turn out on wire rack and cool a bit more before cutting.




Handmade Version:

1. In a saucepan, heat almost to boiling point:
- 1/2 cup milk

2. Add, and stir until butter is melted:
- 3 tsp Rapadura or 2 tsp honey
- 2 tsp salt
- 90g butter
Tip into a large mixing bowl and leave to cool.

3. Once mixture is lukewarm, mix in:
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 T dry yeast

4. Add, beating until smooth with wooden spoon or electric mixer:
- 2 cups white spelt flour
- 1 cup wholemeal spelt flour
- 100g gf gluten substitute (Orgran) - optional, for improving texture

5. Stir in:
- 3 more cups spelt flour (plain/wholemeal/mixture)
or just enought to make a soft dough.

6. Lightly flour table, turn out dough, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 12 mins. Shape into a smooth ball, put into greased bowl and turn dough over so top is greased. Cover with plastic wrap, leave to rise until doubled in size.

7. While dough is rising, blend in blender until powdered:
- 120g Rapadura

8. Beat together with electric mixer until light:
- 300g soft butter
- powdered Rapadura
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

9. When ready, punch down risen dough and add to creamed mixture in small pieces with mixer on medium speed. Beat until all dough is incorporated, then add:
- 6 large eggs (add one at a time, beating well after adding each one)

10. Stir in
- 1 1/4 cup sultanas.

11. Generously butter cake tins. Put mixture into tins, but don't fill more than half full, as they need room to rise. Leave in warm place until doubled in size.

12. Heat oven to 170° C (350° F). Bake cakes for 30 mins, or until risen and golden-brown on top, and a skewer in the middle comes out clean. If browning too quickly, place foil over cake. Cool in pans for 10 mins, then turn out on wire rack and cool before cutting.

Menu Plan Monday - 29th December

What's on the menu this week? I've decided to get organised with the help of orgjunkie.com's Menu Plan Monday! For me, meals depend on what comes in my vege box (I buy my veges through a local CSA, so they're fresh, in season, local and organic), what's in my freezer, and what's on special at the shops. I'm working on cleaning out my freezer at the moment, as it's getting a bit full. I buy as much as possible in bulk - organic rice, seeds & grains (I grind my own flour), nuts, dried fruit, organic chicken, whole beef rumps, etc. So sometimes I just need to organize and clean out my freezer so I know what I've got in there, before dashing off to buy something else!

This week I have lots of over-ripe bananas, so today I've got to use them up (banana cream pie and gf banana-berry cake, plus freezing some for smoothies). Also, once I get my vege box on Tuesday I'll have lots of silverbeet, spring onions, carrots and asian greens (fried rice). And lots of eggplants (mousakka and ratatoulie). This is the plan . . .

Monday: Leftover roast chicken and veges chopped up, with gravy, on toast (easy leftover dinner) & leftover Christmas desserts.

Tuesday: Games night with friends - Marinated chicken wings, fried rice (brown rice, lots of veges), salad (brought by friend who makes the BEST salads!), spelt bread rolls, and a gluten, dairy & sugar free banana cream pie (adapted from Gluten Free Girl's recipe at http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2008/12/banana-cream-pie-gluten-free-and-dairy.html).

Wednesday: Mousakka (mostly dairy free except for some cheese); and Breudher (a traditional Dutch New Year's yeast cake) for a New Years' Eve supper we're going to.

Thursday: New Year's Day
Breakfast - Breudher (warmed in oven) & fruit
Lunch - poppy rolls (made ahead & frozen, then cooked before lunch) & salad (Daddy will be at work)
Dinner - garlic prawns, homemade crumbed calamari (using crumbs from my spelt bread), baked potatoes & salad

Friday: Potluck dinner at friends house - taking homemade pizzas & Gateau au Chocolate with Berry Nougat.

Saturday: Fish pie with mashed potato topping, salad.

Sunday: Crockpot chicken baked in homemade tomato sauce w/ sliced carrots; and brown rice and salad.

Lunches at our house are usually leftovers, salads, homemade bread or tortillas, a quick Thermomix risotto or pasta dish, or a soup using up leftovers and veges that need using. Salads tend to be made from whatever salad veges I have in the fridge, plus whatever interesting things I have on hand to add a bit of pizzazz - eg. marinated artichoke hearts, fetta cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds, kalamata olives, sundried tomato strips, salmon, etc. I always try to keep some interesting things in the cupboard to add to salads, or to top pizzas with - two quick and easy meals!

GF Apple-Berry Custard Crumble

This is one of my family's favourite desserts - it's quick and easy to prepare, and not expensive, especially if you buy your apples bulk, in season, like I do. Even if you don't have to eat gluten free, you will love this topping.

I like to add a layer of custard between the fruit and the crumble - it looks really pretty, and tastes so good. (Blueberries make the apples pink, as you can see in the picture above!) Also, the moisture from the custard helps to cook the fruit. If you like your apples really soft and mushy, precook them. (I don't!) To pre-cook apples in the Thermomix, place sliced apples and cinnamon in the bowl and cook at 100C for 10 minutes, reverse speed soft.

If you can't have nuts, just leave them out and add more quinoa flakes (or oats if you can have gluten).

Serves 6-8.

Preheat oven to 180ºC

1. Peel, core, and slice apples thinly into a large, oven proof dish. Add berries and cinnamon and stir through.
- 5-6 apples
- 2 cups of frozen organic blueberries (or other berries)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2. Make custard by adding all ingredients below to the Thermomix bowl and cooking for 6 minutes at 90C, speed 4:
- 2 eggs
- 500g rice-almond milk (or preferred milk)
- 50g raw honey or 60g Rapadura
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 30g gf plain flour or cornflour
    Pour custard over fruit, scraping out bowl. No need to wash bowl.

[Note: to make this custard egg-free, just leave out the eggs and add another 30g of cornflour or gf plain flour. Or grind 30g white chia seeds with the cornflour until fine, then add remaining ingredients minus the eggs and cook.]

3. Add crumble ingredients to bowl and mix on speed 5 for 5 seconds. This will mix it together and chop the nuts at the same time.
- 130g gluten-free self-raising flour
- 70g quinoa flakes (or oats if you're okay with gluten)
- 40g raw almonds
- 40g Rapadura
- a pinch of salt
- 100g macadamia oil (or butter - if using butter leave out the pinch of salt)

4. Sprinkle crumble over the custard and fruit, and bake for 30 minutes, or until crumble is golden.

Great served with cashew cream!

Variation: Make this recipe extra special with a delicious, caramelly hazelnut topping!! (Thanks Chelsea!)

Warning: Even though this recipe makes over 2 litres of dessert, it never lasts long - our family of six can scoff it down in one sitting! So if you want to spread it out further, serve in small bowls! :)

Gateau au Chocolate - Flourless French Chocolate Cake

One of my favourite things to do is to create healthy desserts that taste really decadent. The kind of desserts you can serve to your nine year old boy and your sugar-addicted friends, and they'd never know it was healthy! This cake is a rich, dark, moist 'gateau au chocolate' which I found on Debra Lynn Dadd's website, http://www.sweetsavvy.com/. A serving of one-eighth of the cake has only 12 carbs, but don't worry, it doesn't taste like it!

This recipe has a dark, bittersweet chocolate taste which I love. But if you prefer a sweeter cake, just add more Rapadura (evaporated sugar cane juice, available from health food stores).

I use a Thermomix for most of my cooking - an amazing cooking machine that is a food processor, grinder, cooker, steamer, and much more. (For more information, go to www.thermomix.com.) If you don't have a Thermomix, you will need an electric mixer and a blender.

In case you get confused, you'll need five eggs for this recipe, but two of the yolks won't be used. Store them for later and use in custard or when making your own pasta.

1. Preheat oven to 150° C (300° F).

2. Grease a 7" springform pan with butter, and set aside.

3. Mix on high speed in blender or Thermomix until powdered:
- 1/2 cup Rapadura Tip into a bowl and set aside.

4. Melt over low heat (either on stove in pan, or in Thermomix ):
- 10 tablespoons of butter

5. Remove from heat and add the Rapadura, and:
- 9 tablespoons organic cocoa (or the best dark cocoa you can afford)
Stir until blended, then set aside to cool for 15 mins.

6. Crack and separate:
- 4 eggs
Place the whites into a mixer bowl, and place two of the yolks in a storage container and place in fridge for another recipe.

7. Beat the 4 egg whites in mixer bowl with electric mixer (or Thermomix with butterfly attachment) until they form stiff peaks. Tip into another bowl and set aside.

8. Tip two egg yolks into the mixer bowl (or Thermomix). Add:
- 1 whole egg Beat the yolks and the whole egg together until they are light and foamy. Slowly add the cocoa mixture, beating the whole time, until it's well mixed.

9. Pour the butter/cocoa/egg mixture into the egg whites in the large bowl, and fold together with a spatula until well incorporated, but don't overmix!

10. Pour batter into the springform pan and bake for about an hour. The cake usually rises high, cracks open, then deflates a little. The centre should be set, but doesn't need to be dry.

11. Allow to cool completely on a rack, then remove sides of pan.

You can serve this delicious cake plain, but it tastes absolutely amazing if you pile it with Berry Nougat... this is my favourite way to serve it! (Besides, if it deflates too much, no one will notice if it's covered in berries!)


Berry Nougat
This recipe is one I know from memory, but it was originally from a raw cookbook by Serene Allison - the amounts can vary to taste, so don't stress too much about measuring.

1. In a big mixing bowl, tip in:
- about 300g of frozen mixed berries
- a handful or two of raisins or sultanas (for chewiness)
- a handful of raw almonds (or your favourite nuts), roughly crushed in blender or Thermomix
- a few splashes of pure maple syrup (to taste - make sure it's still tangy, not too sweet)
- a few blobs of almond (or mixed nut) butter

You can let the berry nougat thaw a little, or have it still mostly frozen - I like it thawed, as it's juicier and has more flavour. Berry nougat is delicious on it's own too, thawed or frozen, or on cheesecake (if you eat dairy).

This is making my mouth water - I'm off to make some berry nougat for a snack!

Trying something new . . .

Well, here I am, trying something new... I've never written a blog before! Why am I starting this food blog? Because I think there's a lot of people out there who need to change to healthier eating habits, but don't know where to start; or have tried to change and given up because it all seems 'too hard'. If you're one of these people, I hope this blog will help YOU to try something new - cooking your favourite recipes in a healthier way! And also give you some quirky new twists to old recipes, which I hope will get you excited about cooking more healthy meals for yourself and your family and friends!

I've always been interested in what's healthy and why, and as my mother taught me to cook from a very young age, I've always liked to spend time in the kitchen trying out new things. About five years ago I was told by my naturopath that I needed to get rid of wheat, sugar and dairy in my diet. (I was exhausted, had constant headaches and colds, was underweight, and had blood sugar problems.) I started to experiment with changing recipes, and I've enjoyed every minute of it! Besides that, I gained more energy, stopped having colds and headaches, reached a healthier weight, and my blood sugar levelled out!

When people tell me they've tried to make changes in their diet but can't stick with it, I want to show them that it's really not that hard - anyone can do it. You can cook with healthier alternatives and still have people on a regular diet say, "Wow! That was really nice. Can I have the recipe?" I think fresh, healthy food made from good quality ingredients tastes ten times better than the way most people eat - even if it doesn't contain dairy, wheat or sugar! (By the way, I do use butter as it doesn't bother me, and it's a lot healthier than margerine! I also use some cheeses now and then.)

In my next post, I want to share a recipe for the best chocolate cake ever - and it has no flour or refined sugar in it! Also coming up... some ideas for giving your favourite recipes a healthy twist.