Quick Yeast-Free Spelt Bread

This recipe is a lot like my scone dough recipe. In fact, that's what it started out as, but it kind of morphed into this! If you want to make damper, you pretty much just use the scone recipe and shape the dough into a ball, flatten it slightly, cut a cross into the top, brush with milk, and cook it. But this time I did it a little differently - I used hot Almond-Sunflower Seed milk and olive oil, and it changed the consistency to a much more bread-like, less crumbly loaf. We loved it! The outside was crisp and the inside soft, and it was quicker than making yeast bread. Perfect for breakfast, spread with a thick layer of avocado, some herb salt, and lots of freshly-ground pepper - yum!

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees celcius.

2. Make a batch of Almond-Sunflower Seed milk (or heat your choice of milk to 50 degrees) and set aside.

3. Weigh into Thermomix bowl and mix on speed 6 for 6 seconds (no need to dry bowl unless you want to grind part of the grain first):
- 440g plain unbleached spelt flour (can use partly wholemeal spelt flour)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt

4. Add oil and mix for a few seconds on speed 5:
- 60g olive oil

5. Add and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5, until dough roughly comes together:
- 230g warm Almond-Sunflower Seed milk
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar

6. Set dial to closed lid position and mix for 20 seconds on interval speed, until dough forms a soft ball. (Should spring back when you poke it - if too sticky, add some more flour.)

7. Turn dough onto lightly floured bread mat and form into a smooth ball. (The dough will be slightly bouncy, like bread dough, not too soft and sticky like scone dough.) Transfer dough to a floured oven tray. Flatten slightly, and cut a 2cm deep cross into top of ball with a sharp knife. Brush with some more of the warm milk and place tray in hot oven.

8. Cook for 10 minutes on 220 degrees, then 20 minutes on 180 degrees. Bread should be nicely browned and sound hollow when tapped underneath. Leave to cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Dairy-Free Spelt Scones

Scones have always been a 'staple' of our diet - we have them for breakfast or morning tea at least once a week. They're so quick and easy (pop them in the oven and they're ready to eat by the time you've had a shower)... And they are equally nice with jam and cream, or avocado, salt and pepper! (I never put sugar in my scones, so we can eat them with either savoury or sweet toppings.) We also like them with 'Eggs-a-la-Goldenrod' (chopped boiled eggs in white sauce), or white sauce with mince (ground beef). (I know, we have strange things for breakfast!)

Anyway, when I decided to go completely dairy-free for six months, the thing I missed most was butter in and on my scones - lots of it! Sigh. But I found that you can make really nice scones with oil instead of butter, and I'm enjoying them again for breakfast... often with fruit spread and cashew cream, as in the photo above. Yum!

(This recipe is written for Thermomix, but can be easily done by hand too.)

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

2. Weigh into Thermomix bowl and mix for 6 seconds, speed 6:

- 440g plain spelt flour (grind up to 200g of the flour from spelt grain first if you want wholemeal)

- 4 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt

3. Add oil and mix in for a few seconds on speed 5:

- 60g macadamia oil, or light olive oil

4. Add and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5, or until dough almost comes together:

- 230g rice-almond milk, or other milk substitute

- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (optional)

5. Set dial to closed-lid position and mix for 20 seconds on interval speed. Dough should be soft and slightly sticky - adjust flour and milk if needed.

6. Turn out onto lightly floured bread mat and pat into 3cm thick round. Cut scones out with the MC (cap in the top of the Thermomix lid), dipping it into flour after each one. Place onto floured/greased tray so that scones are touching each other. Cook in hot oven for about 15 mins, or until scones are lightly browned, and cooked through (pull centre ones apart to check).

Almond & Sunflower Seed Milk

Hot chocolate made with Almond & Sunflower Seed Milk

Here's another dairy-free milk for you to try... I made this one up this morning when I needed milk but didn't want to wake everyone up by grinding rice at 6am! (I pulverised it on speed 6 at the end instead of speed 8, to make it a bit quieter, too!) This is sweeter and creamier than rice milk, and froths up really well - perfect for hot chocolate or cafe latte! Let me know what you think...

1. Grind for 15 - 20 seconds, speed 9:
- 50g raw almonds
- 50g sunflower seeds

2. Add and cook for 4 minutes, 60 degrees, speed 4:
- 1 litre water
- 1 Tblspn coconut oil (or grapeseed oil)
- pinch sea salt
- 20g raw honey (opt.)

3. Pulverise for 30 seconds on speed 8.

4. Strain through fine mesh strainer/coarse cloth into bottle.

I did find this milk separates more than rice milk, but that doesn't bother me - I just shake it up. It didn't separate in my hot chocolate, just in the bottle.

Menu Plan Monday - 28th September

Well, what a week it was last week! Didn't get a menu plan done, as I was cooking at a camp of about 100 people! (Mostly kids.) I do the special diet cooking for our church youth camps, (plus help with the other cooking) and we had a lot of fun, but I was pretty exhausted by the end of it! (And ended up in bed with a migraine for a day and a half - probably partly from the stress of trying to organize moving, plus the late nights and all...)

I just had to share this photo of Cassia licking the beater after we made chocolate cake - how's this for a beater!!! (I used my Thermomix for all the dairy-free, nut-free, wheat-free cooking, but for the other 80 people who ate 'normal' food, we had some heavy duty kitchen machines to help with the preparation!)

Unfortunately the house we hoped to be moved into by now didn't work out, so we've got to wait another two weeks then we'll be moving to another. (I'm so tired of all this moving stuff... specially when my dh keeps unpacking boxes I've packed to look for something he wants - aaaarrrgghh!!) Anyway, at least we've got more time to sort through the stuff we're packing - I'm getting rid of lots of junk and feeling much more organized. I definitely need a menu plan on weeks like this - gets a bit crazy at meal times otherwise.

If you'd like some ideas for organizing your home, and planning your meals, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie, and Menu Plan Monday. I'm sure you'll find it very helpful. There's also a place on the Thermomix forum where you can post your menu plans, and check out others' plans.

By the way, my 'Blender-Batter Berry Cake' is in a recipe competition on the Thermomix recipe blog - if you like this recipe (or my blog!), leave a comment there on my behalf! :) Have a great week.

[TMX - prepared &/or cooked in the Thermomix]

Monday:

(lunch) Leftover chicken with cashew satay sauce (from freezer) on rice (TMX)
(dinner) Stir fry spicy mince & veges (TMX) with mung bean noodles

Tuesday:

(lunch) Leftovers & spelt tortillas (TMX)

(dinner) Raw pasta sauce (TMX) on spelt fettucine & spelt bread rolls (TMX)

Wednesday:

(lunch) Pumpkin soup (TMX) with spelt seed bread (TMX)

(dinner) Corn & potato chowder with chorizo sausage (crockpot)

Thursday:

(lunch) Tuna fishcakes with salad (TMX)

(dinner) Sunny scalloped eggs with asian broccoli & silverbeet (TMX)

Friday:

(lunch) Lentil-vege bolognaise (TMX) on rice-corn pasta

(dinner) Turkey mince sausages in spelt tortillas (TMX) with Mexican bean salad

Saturday:

(lunch) Leftovers & tortillas

(dinner) Fish & baked potatoes with salad

Sunday:

(lunch) Beef pot roast with veges

(dinner) Leftovers

Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)

Homemade tomato sauce is very simple to make in the Thermomix, and contains a lot less sugar than the bought stuff, plus no preservatives and colours! Here's how I make my sauce (or 'ketchup'), which we use just as an everyday tomato sauce and also as a baking sauce for chicken, ribs, roast, meatloaf, etc. 

When I've got to go out for the day, I often just throw some chicken pieces or beef ribs into the crockpot, pour this sauce over, and leave it to cook until tender (usually 4 hours on high, or 8 hours on low - except beef ribs which take about 6 hours on high and I add a bit of water so they don't dry out). Adjust seasonings to taste, and try some of the variations below the recipe to get it just how you like it.

Note: This sauce won't be quite as red as bought tomato sauce, but tastes very rich and delicious!

Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)
Makes 1 litre

2 brown onions, halved
1/2 a head of garlic (about 6-8 cloves)
50g olive oil
800g tomatoes, halved
200g tomato paste or sun-dried tomatoes
80g apple cider vinegar
100g tamari or gluten free soy sauce
100g Rapadura or coconut sugar or chopped dates
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger

Place onions and garlic into mixing bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 5.

Add oil and saute 3 mins/100C/speed 1.

Add remaining ingredients and blend 30 sec/speed 9.

Cook for 30 mins/Varoma/speed 3.

Puree 30 sec/speed 9, turning dial up slowly to speed 9.

Variations:

You can play with the flavour, adding in one or more of the following if you like, and adjusting the sweetness (and sweetener) to taste:

fresh basil and/or oregano or chives
a little rosemary or thyme
black pepper
smoked paprika
a red chilli or chilli powder
a few sprigs fresh parsley

Note: In the fridge this will keep a few weeks. Or if you like you can put it into glass jars or bottles with screwtop lids that will seal well, then boil the sealed jars for 15-20 minutes to vacuum seal. This way you can keep it in the pantry indefinitely until opened. (After opening store in the fridge.) Thanks for this tip Bee!

Menu Plan Monday - 14th September

Okay, okay - I know it's not Monday, but I just couldn't get to the computer yesterday to write out my menu plan! Better late than never. At least it's all planned out using my friend Bel's very helpful 'Weekly Schedule' plan... she is a great organizer! (Check out her Home Cooking and Home Grown blogs.)

I'm rather busy this week, with a Thermomix cooking class and a demo, a homeschool outing, scrapbooking, going to a friend's for dinner, homeschooling, and sorting and packing for our move (which has to be done this week)... and I also need to get some baking done for a camp I'm cooking at next week (I'm the 'special diets' cook!)... so I've kept it pretty basic this week. If you'd like some menu planning ideas, go to Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com; and if you have a Thermomix (or wish you did!) check out the many recipes and ideas at the Thermomix forum.

Have a great week!

[TMX = prepared and/or cooked in the Thermomix]

Monday:

(lunch) Tuna salad sandwiches on spelt bread (TMX)

(dinner) Meatloaf & baked veges (slow cooked in oven while I'm at a cooking class - couldn't use the TMX like I usually would because it was with me at the class!)

Tuesday:

(lunch) Tortillas & Mexican quinoa

(dinner) Friend's place - taking a dip (TMX) and Apple Berry Custard Crumble for dessert (TMX)

Wednesday:

(lunch) Fish (coated in cornmeal, pan fried) with stir fry veges (TMX)

(dinner) Beef stew (crockpot)

Thursday:

(lunch) Picnic with homeschool group - pasties made with leftover beef stew and spelt & lard pastry (TMX)

(dinner) Pasta e Fagioli (TMX)

Friday:

(lunch) BBQ Beef Ribs (crockpot) with salad

(dinner) TMX demo here

Saturday:

(lunch) Tuna pasta salad

(dinner) leftovers/sandwiches (doing baking for camp)

Sunday:

(lunch) Baked potatoes & salads

(dinner) leftovers/fresh bread (doing baking for camp)

Quick Chocolate Sorbet

Being dairy-free makes it difficult sometimes when you're craving chocolate desserts - they all seem to have milk or cream in them! But after seeing a recipe for chocolate sorbet, I realized it was a completely milk-free dessert, and something I definitely needed to add to my 'repertoire'! So when some friends came over for lunch the other day, I gave it a go in the Thermomix - not the usual version, where you make a chocolate syrup, freeze it, reblend it, etc, etc... can't be bothered with that. I wanted an INSTANT version, where you don't have to wait forever to get your chocolate fix!

(It was starting to melt by the time I took this photo, as we left it sitting in the Thermomix while we went running around the yard looking for an egg, so we could add an egg white to make it more creamy! ...Finally found one - those confounded chickens have been hiding their eggs... I was very tempted to squeeze one to see if I could get an egg to pop out!)

This way of making a chocolate sorbet is not quite as smooth as if you made it the traditional way - you can taste the little slivers of chocolate as they haven't been melted - but nobody complained! The second time I made it, I tried slightly melting the chocolate, Rapadura, cocoa, coffee, vanilla and salt; blended them together, then added the egg white and ice and ground it all up... but I found it worked better when you didn't try melting them. Just make sure you grind the Rapadura and chocolate really, really well, before adding the other indgredients.

You can add less Rapadura and more cocoa if you like a darker chocolate flavour. Enjoy!

1. In your Thermomix bowl, pulverise on speed 9 for 30 seconds:
- 200g Rapadura

2. Add chocolate, and pulverise on speed 9 for another 30 seconds, until it's a very fine powder:
- 170g good quality dairy free dark chocolate, chopped in small pieces (eg: 70% cocoa Rapadura chocolate, or make your own with this recipe, or this recipe)

3. Add, and pulverise on speed 9 for 1 minute, using the spatula to help it mix:
- 30g good quality cocoa powder (eg: Planet Organic Cocoa)
- 2 Tblspns strong brewed coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 egg white (opt. for creamier result)
- 700g ice cubes (add half first, grind a few seconds, then add the rest)

4. Eat it quickly before it melts!
...or freeze in a shallow tray, or in ice cube trays, and reblend when ready to serve.

Menu Plan Monday - 7th September

Well, I've just been listening to Cyndi O'Meara's teleseminar, and it's all so interesting... I hope you've had the chance to join in and listen and have your nutrition questions answered. Sometimes my friends and family feel I spend too much time in the kitchen, as I cook most things from 'scratch', but after hearing Cyndi's insights into the food industry, and what they are doing to our food, I'm even more motivated to make as much as possible myself, from wholesome ingredients. I don't know about you, but I like to know what's in my food, and if the ingredients listed on the packet can't be bought at the grocery store, or made in my kitchen, then they're probably not worth eating! And then there's all the ingredients that aren't listed... scary stuff!

If you'd like to listen in next time, register for this FREE teleseminar here, and listen from the comfort of your home! I know you'll get a lot out of it. (Every second Monday night at 8pm.)

Free Teleseminars with Cyndi O'meara

I hope you all had a great family day yesterday for Father's Day, and all you dads got lots of attention! My dh got plenty, and enjoyed it thoroughly. I made blender-batter waffles with strawberries and maple syrup for breakfast (photo above), the kids made him a t-shirt that says, "Best Dad Ever" with drawings of themselves on it, he got some dark chocolate (which he kindly shared with us!) and we celebrated with homemade ice-cream sundaes in the afternoon. Yum! He'd been craving a chocolate sundae for weeks, and finally gave in to his craving and stopped by Macas after work to buy one (the bad boy!), only to be told the machine was out of order! Lol! So we took pity on him and made our own. (Much better anyway!)

This week is again going to be simple - got so much more packing and sorting to do. My oven's run out of gas, and we can't get any til Friday, so all the bread will be steamed in the Thermomix, plus tortillas cooked in the electric frypan. If you'd like some recipe ideas and menu planning ideas, go to Menu Plan Monday at "I'm an Organizing Junkie". And if you are a fellow Thermomixer, or interested in this amazing machine that makes healthy cooking so much easier, visit the Thermomix forum for lots of ideas and information.

Have a great week!

(P.S. 'TMX' means the Thermomix is used to make this dish.)

Monday: (lunch) lunch out - chicken wraps; (dinner) Chilli con Carne (TMX) - made with less meat and grated veges in it, on corn chips with avocado.

Tuesday: (lunch) spelt bread (steamed in TMX) tuna salad sandwiches; (dinner) mince, potato and vege 'ragout' (TMX).

Wednesday: (lunch) spelt tortillas (TMX) with avocado & salad; (dinner) steamed fish, stir-fried veges (TMX) with mung-bean noodles.

Thursday: (lunch) leftover noodles & veges; (dinner) meatloaf & steamed veges with red sauce (TMX).

Friday: (lunch) crockpot baked veges & salad (out for morning); (dinner) lentil & pumpkin curry (TMX) on rice (TMX).

Saturday: (lunch) Russian potato salad (TMX) with raw veges; (dinner) fish cakes (TMX), steamed veges (TMX), mashed potato (TMX).

Sunday: (lunch) crockpot marinated beef ribs & salad; (dinner) leftovers, sandwiches.

'Thermy' is part of the family - even comes on drives with us! Just kidding - we were taking it with us to a friend's place so we could make dessert!

Peeling Garlic in the Thermomix

I love my Thermomix - not only does it mill, grind, pulverise, grate, knead, mince, chop, cook, whip, crush, heat, stir, weigh and wash itself - it can even peel your garlic for you! (I find this especially helpful when I have a head of garlic that has tiny little cloves which are a real pain to peel by hand.) I just break off a few cloves and toss them into the bowl...

...press the reverse button so that the blades are hitting the garlic with the blunt side, and mix on speed 5 for about 5 seconds, or until the skins have come off...


...then add some water, and the skins float to the top, making them easy to scoop off. Then just tip the water off and the garlic's chopped!

If you want it chopped finer, scrape the bowl down, and just press the reverse button again to make the blades turn the other way, then chop on speed 9 for a couple of seconds. Done!

Amazing, huh!