Christmas Breakfast Casserole

I often feel a bit overloaded with all the sweet stuff at Christmas, and the kids tend to dig into their Christmas stockings first thing and start in on the homemade sweets, so a savoury breakfast/brunch on Christmas day makes a lot of sense to me. (I prefer a savoury breakfast any day, actually.)

This year, we're having our traditional Christmas dinner of roast turkey and all the trimmings on Christmas Eve. Christmas day we're having a lazy breakfast after the kids open their presents, then getting together for dinner with friends on Christmas night. So this is the breakfast I'm making for Christmas day - a 'prepare ahead' brunch casserole. Oh, and mum is bringing Monkey Bread too, so that should keep everyone happy. :)

This casserole might not look like much (it was hard to photograph!) but the kids love it - it's very tasty. The bottom layer is homemade hashbrowns, made with a mixture of potato and orange sweet potato. Then there's a layer of egg, then a spicy American style turkey or beef mince layer, and egg and zucchini on top with a sprinkle of herbs and savoury yeast flakes. You can use grated parmesan instead of savoury yeast flakes if you don't need it to be dairy free.

You can prepare this the day before if you like, and bake it on Christmas morning while the family is opening presents. Easy.

P.S. This is obviously also just a great midweek dinner with a salad!

Christmas Brunch Casserole 
(Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free)

Serves 6

Preheat oven to 180°C.

1kg potatoes, roughly chopped (I use a mixture of potatoes and orange sweet potatoes)
1 brown onion, halved
2 garlic cloves
3 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil
2 tsp herb salt
Freshly ground black pepper
500g turkey or beef mince
1/8 tsp sage, ground
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
2 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp tomato sauce
10 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 zucchini, quartered
2 tsp savoury yeast flakes

1. Place potatoes, onion, garlic, 1 tsp of herb salt and some freshly ground pepper into mixing bowl and chop 30 sec/speed 4.
 
2. Melt ghee or oil in a large frypan and add potato mixture. Stir and fry until lightly browned and cooked through, approx. 10 mins. Spread over base of a 34 x 22 cm rectangular baking dish and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, place mince, sage, cayenne, 1/4 tsp oregano, tamari and tomato sauce into mixing bowl and mix 10 sec/reverse/speed 3. Cook 4 mins/Varoma/reverse/speed soft with MC off (until barely cooked). Remove to a bowl and set aside.

4. Place eggs, 1 tsp herb salt, garlic powder and onion powder and some freshly ground black pepper into mixing bowl. Mix 5 sec/speed 4, then drizzle half the mixture over the potatoes.

5. Sprinkle mince over the egg layer. 

6. Add zucchini to remaining egg mixture in mixing bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 5. Spread over mince layer and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp oregano and yeast flakes.

6. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 30 mins, then remove foil and bake a further 30 mins, or until set and browned.

OR

To Prepare Ahead:

Cover casserole with foil and place in fridge overnight. In the morning, place in preheated 180°C oven and cook 45 mins, then remove foil and cook 30 mins or until set and browned.

Creamy Quinoa & Chia Porridge

Autumn is here, and it's getting too cool for cold breakfasts of raw chia pudding and green smoothies. The other morning I was trying to think of something warm and comforting for breakfast while browsing through food photos on Instagram (as you do), and I noticed a photo of banana chia quinoa porridge that was posted by Jessica Cox (a nutritionist with lots of great recipes), and I was inspired! I couldn't find a recipe, so I just made up my own. (Thanks for the idea, Jessica!)

I love quinoa, but whenever I've tried to make quinoa flakes into porridge it's usually ended up kind of sludgey, and I didn't really enjoy it. Until now. Adding chia made all the difference for me, as well as cooking it very lightly, not overcooking it. And I'm sure all the coconut cream, banana, cinnamon and nuts helped as well!

You could cook it in the Thermomix like I do, or in a pan on the stovetop if you keep the heat really low and stir until done. Or use the soak overnight method (below the recipe).

Note: The addition of mesquite powder is optional. I love to use it in my breakfast porridge as it's low GI and great for stablising blood sugar levels, plus it's high in minerals and protein. So when you combine that with chia and quinoa, you have a breakfast that keeps you from getting the blood sugar 'lows' all morning. (It's also slightly sweet, and has a caramelly flavour that goes well with the bananas and cinnamon.) Mesquite flour and chia are both traditional foods of native Americans, and it's really interesting to see these ancient 'health foods' making a comeback! My Cherokee great great grandma would be pleased to know I'm using them. :)

Quinoa & Chia Porridge

Serves 4

Weigh almonds into Thermomix bowl, and grind for 10 seconds on speed 9.
- 100g raw almonds

Add water and blend on speed 9 for 1 minute.
- 500g water

[Note: if you can't have nuts, you could use 600g of your preferred milk in place of the almond milk. Coconut milk is nice, and since it's so creamy you can reduce it to 300g milk plus 300g water.]

Add the quinoa flakes, chia seeds, honey, spices, vanilla, mesquite powder & salt, and cook at 50C for 5 minutes, reverse speed 2. (Gently blend it up for a few seconds first on speed 3 to mix together.)
- 50g quinoa flakes
- 50g chia seeds
- 2 Tbspns raw honey (or preferred sweetener)
- 2 tps ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 3 Tbspns mesquite powder (opt)
- a pinch of Himalayan salt

Spoon into bowls and serve topped with:
- coconut milk or yoghurt
- sliced bananas (or whatever fruit you like)
- chopped walnuts (opt)
- a drizzle of pure maple syrup
- a sprinkle of cinnamon


Overnight soak method:

Make almond milk, mix with other ingredients apart from toppings, and refrigerate overnight. Next morning, warm gently then serve topped with fruit, nuts, etc.

Blender-Batter Muffins

Blueberry Spelt Muffins

This is the base recipe I use for my muffins, adding in berries, or nuts, or choc chips, or spices, or crumble topping, or whatever I feel like.  It's a very versatile and healthy recipe - gluten free (or low gluten, depending which grains you use), dairy free and naturally sweetened. You start with the whole grains (spelt, brown rice, barley, kamut, or a mixture of these...), grind the grains in the Thermomix, mix with the liquids, leave to soak overnight (or at least a few hours), then add the remaining ingredients.  (Check out the variations below for ideas.)  I like to start it at night so we can have muffins for breakfast (...and morning tea - it makes a lot!!).

This recipe is inspired by Sue Gregg's Blender Batter Baking recipes in Sue Gregg's 'Breakfasts' cookbook. (I love Sue's cookbooks - this one has nearly 300 pages of healthy, delicious breakfast recipes!!)  I used to use my homemade rice-almond milk with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to substitute for the buttermilk in her recipe, but I decided to cut out a step and make the milk at the same time as I made the muffins... so instead of buttermilk, I add a handful of raw almonds, a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, and water.  It all gets ground up and soaked with the grains, and works just fine! If you can't have nuts, sunflower seeds work just as well.

Soaking the grains in the liquids overnight improves digestibility and vitamin absorption.  You can either leave the batter to soak overnight in the Thermomix, or remove it to a glass bowl, which is what I prefer to do.

1.  Place half the grain in the Thermomix and grind on speed 9 for 1 minute, or until finely ground. Remove to a bowl and repeat with the remainder of the grain. (This is so you don't overload the blades.)
- 290g whole spelt grain (or kamut, hulled barley, brown rice, quinoa or a mixture of grains)


2.  Add the flour in the bowl back into the Thermomix jug, add in the following ingredients, and blend for 1 minute, speed 8:
- 40g raw almonds (or sunflower seeds)
- 160g water
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 20g macadamia oil (or light olive oil)
- 200g raw honey
(You may have to play around with the amounts of grain if not using spelt - if it seems way too thick and there is no 'vortex' while you're blending, add a little more water.)

3.  Leave batter to soak overnight, or for about 7 hours.

4.  When ready to cook, preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 F), and grease muffin trays (or you can use ramekins for extra large muffins).

5.  Add eggs to batter and mix for 1 minutes at speed 8:
- 2 eggs

6.  Mix in briefly, for 3 seconds on speed 5:
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

7.  Fill greased muffin trays (or ramekins) almost full with batter.  Sprinkle the top of muffins with Rapadura and cinnamon (optional), and place in oven for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes before removing from tins.

Variations:

- NUT FREE: instead of the almonds and water, use 200g rice milk.

- Berry muffins: add berries by sprinkling them on top of batter in tins and pressing in slightly - they will sink in a little while cooking.  You can also sprinkle with Rapadura & cinnamon if you wish.

- Chocolate chip muffins: replace cinnamon with 1 tsp vanilla extract; stir in 1 cup of Rapadura sweetened choc chips with baking powder.  (Berries AND choc chips is nice too!)

- Nut muffins: add chopped nuts with the baking powder, etc, but only mix in briefly.

- Apple muffins: increase the cinnamon to 1 1/2 tsp, add 1/4 tsp nutmeg; add 1 peeled and diced apple to batter with baking powder; sprinkle with cinnamon & Rapadura before baking.

- Banana muffins: add another 20g oil, 1 1/2 very ripe bananas, 1/2 tsp nutmeg and blend, then soak overnight.  Only needs 1 egg.  Optional: add a handful of chopped walnuts/pecans and/or dark choc chips with baking powder.

- Orange date muffins: replace cinnamon with 1 tsp vanilla extract; fold in 1 peeled, diced orange and a handful diced dates with baking powder.

- Orange nut muffins: peel orange skin into Thermomix, add a little Rapadura and cinnamon, grind speed 9 until finely grated.  Use 170g orange juice instead of almonds, water & vinegar in batter.  Add 1 tsp vanilla extract to batter.  Add a handful of chopped walnuts or pecans and a handful of sultanas with the baking powder.  Can also add a handful of grated carrot.  Before baking, sprinkle with the orange zest, Rapadura & cinnamon.

Wholemeal Spelt Artisan Bread

Spelt Artisan Loaf

Spelt Artisan Couronne

Well, the bread was delicious! I love Italian wood-fired oven bread, and this was very much like that, with a moist, slightly chewy texture, and a crunchy, chewy crust - yum! And I'm so happy I've found a recipe that incorporates soaking the grains/flour to make it more digestible. Of course, it's a bonus that's it's so easy! I used about one third ground spelt grain, two thirds unbleached plain spelt flour - next time I'm hoping to try half and half to see how that goes.

Grains (and flour) should be soaked overnight (or longer) at room temperature to increase digestibility - so I'm thinking when I make my next batch that I will soak the flours in the water overnight, then the next day mix in the yeast and salt (with the Thermomix), let it rise for two hours, then put it in the fridge.  It will work either way, and if you don't have time for the overnight soaking, you can just rise the dough for 2 hours (or up to 5 hours) instead.

(This recipe is an altered version of the original from 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day'.  There's lots of different way you can use this dough, so have a look at the website for ideas.)

1. Grind in Thermomix for 1 minute on speed 9:
- 250g spelt grain

2. Add and mix on speed 4-5 until all mixed in, using spatula if needed to help it along:
- 750g plain unbleached spelt flour
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons dry yeast
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons coarse salt
- 750g lukewarm water (needs to be lukewarm, or rising time will be longer)
You don't have to knead it, or mix it for very long, only until all the flour is mixed in.

3. Scrape the wet, sticky dough out of the Thermomix into a large plastic container or dough bucket with a lid that is fitted, but not completely airtight. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until it has risen to it's height and then collapsed, or has flattened on the top. Longer rising times, up to 5 hours, will not harm the result, and will help to increase digestibility.

4. You can use some of the dough now, or you can place it in the fridge for whenever you need it. It's a lot easier to work with if you refrigerate it first, as it's less sticky. So for your first loaf, it's probably easier to put it in the fridge for at least three hours first.

5. Baking Day: First, prepare a pizza peel (or a cutting board or pizza tray with baking paper on it) by sprinkling it with cornmeal or wholemeal spelt flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough in the container with some flour to make it less sticky when you pull some out. Pull out a grapefruit sized chunk of dough, hold it in your hand and add a little more flour to the outside of it, so it won't stick to your hands. Don't knead it or squeeze it - just gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom, turning as you go, and gather it under to form a smooth ball, then place it on the floured tray/peel.

6.  Rest the dough on the peel/tray to rise, uncovered.  It will take 40 minutes to rise altogether - you won't see a lot of rising during this time, but it will rise more in the oven.  After 20 minutes, turn oven on to 230 degrees C (450 degrees F) with a baking stone placed on middle rack.  (If you don't have a baking stone you can use a heavy based tray or flat cast-iron pan.  I used a cast-iron pan the first time and it worked really well.)  Place an empty grill tray in the bottom of the oven or on another rack.

7.  Once you've turned the oven on to preheat, dust the bread with wholemeal flour or cornmeal and slash a 1/4 inch deep pattern with a sharp knife - criss cross, diagonal, tic-tac-toe, or a 'sun ray' pattern as on the couronne loaf above.  Leave to rise for the remaining 20 minutes.

8.  After the 20 minute preheat, open the oven and quickly slide the loaf off the pizza peel or tray, onto the baking stone (or tray or cast-iron pan).  Quickly pour a cup or two of hot water into the empty grill tray and close oven door to trap the steam.

9.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until crust is nicely browned and firm - the dough inside won't dry out because it's so moist.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.  Crust will soften a bit at first, but will firm up again after cooled.

10.  Store remaining dough in the fridge in lidded container and use it over the next 14 days.  Allowing the dough to mature over a couple of days will improve the flavour and texture.  Cut off and shape loaves as you need them - only bake what you can use in a day as it gets quite tough after a day or so.  You can have a couple of different doughs maturing in the fridge at different stages, some with herbs mixed in, some plain... check out the website or book for lots of ideas.  Have fun!

Note:  When you're ready to make a new batch of dough, there's no need to wash out the container from the last batch - just scrape the aged dough down and incorporate it into the new dough and it will give you a head start on the sourdough flavour!

Chocolate Banana-Nut Ice-Cream

Here's an ice-cream recipe that is very quick and won't make you feel guilty!!!  It's so healthy you can even eat if for breakfast - we do!  It's a great way to get the kids out of bed on a school day - just yell, 'Chocolate ice-cream for breakfast!' and they'll come running.  :)  I always buy a few bags of over-ripe bananas when they're in the throw-out box at the supermarket - just peel them and toss them in a bag and freeze them, then they're ready for ice-cream anytime you want it.  Cut them into pieces about an inch long before processing.

I don't usually measure the amounts in this recipe - it's very flexible.  But I've added approximate amounts (in brackets) for those of you who want them.

If you're looking for somewhere to buy cacao powder or agave syrup, you can buy them either at health food stores, or at online stores such as Loving Earth.

Toss into Thermomix bowl and process on speed 9 until it all comes together - about 30 seconds:

- (500g) half a TM bowl of frozen banana pieces (cut in 1 inch chunks)

- (150g) a good handful or two of raw pecans or macadamia nuts

- (20 - 30g) a couple of heaped tablespoonfuls of cacao powder (or organic cocoa powder)

- (30g) a couple of tablespoons of agave syrup, to taste (or pure maple syrup/raw honey)

(It will be crumbly at first, but keep mixing and it will come together.)

That's it!  Serve it immediately before it melts.  This makes enough for 4 - 6 people.

Note: to make it even more special, you can add some Rapadura sweetened choc chips at the end!

Greek Easter Bread

I seem to have a favourite bread for every season - I love baking different types of breads. Today I found a new favourite - Greek Easter Bread. It's really delicious! It is a braided, anise flavoured bread topped with sesame seeds, almonds and sugar. It traditionally has two, red-dyed boiled eggs (or 4 dyed quail eggs) pressed into the braided loaf before rising, which would look really pretty... but I didn't have any red dye, so I didn't do this bit. I used part wholemeal spelt, part white - you could use all white for a softer bread.

The good thing about sweet breads is they use a lot less sugar than a cake or other sweet desserts, and they're every bit as satisfying! I've only given the Thermomix version of this recipe, as the handmade version was so long and complicated that I didn't really think anyone would bother!!!

1. Place in Thermomix bowl and grind for 1 minute on speed 9.
- 100g spelt grain
- 2 dried anise pods (or you can 1 tsp ground anise)

Set aside.

2. Place in bowl and grind at speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- 70g Rapadura

3. Add and grind on speed 9 for 10 seconds:

- peel of one orange

4. Add to bowl and heat at 80 degrees, speed 2 for 1.5 minutes:

- 140g rice/almond milk

- 60g butter or oil (macadamia/grapeseed/light olive)

- 1/2 tspn sea salt

5. Add to milk mixture, and mix for 6 seconds on speed 6:

- ground spelt and anise

- 400g white spelt flour

- 1 egg (opt)

- 7g sachet (or 1 Tblspn) instant yeast

6. Turn dial to closed lid and knead on Interval speed for 2 minutes.

7. Place dough in oiled bowl, cover, and leave to rise in warm position for 1 hour, or until well risen. (Or roll it up in a silicon breadmat.)

8. Punch dough down, place back in Thermomix bowl, turn dial to closed lid and knead on interval speed for 1 more minute.

9. Take dough out and divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each portion into 3 equal strands, about 30 cm long. Braid the strands, and fold ends under. Place on oven tray lined with baking paper, brush with combined egg and milk:

- 1 egg, lightly beaten (opt)

- 1 Tblspn rice milk

10. Sprinkle with:

- 2 Tblspns sesame seeds

- 2 Tblspns chopped/slivered almonds

- 2 Tblspns Rapadura

(If using dyed eggs, press them into the braid now.)

11. Place in cold oven with a pan of boiling water underneath, and leave to rise for 20 minutes.

13. Turn oven on to 180 degrees C. It will finish rising and bake at the same time.  Bake bread for 30 - 40 minutes, or until cooked. (Cover with a tea towel, and carefully turn over so you can knock underneath - it should sound hollow.) Serve warm slices with butter.

Have a great Easter!

Blender-Batter Brown Rice Waffles or Pancakes

Brown rice waffles with pure maple syrup and strawberries

This is the best waffle and pancake recipe ever - so light, and the waffles are nice and crispy - and they're healthy too! They are dairy free, and gluten free if you use brown rice and/or buckwheat. They can also be made nut free and egg free. You can use all sorts of grains in this recipe (see variations below), so have fun experimenting! 

Pancakes with Rapadura and lemon juice

You use the whole, raw grain to make these, not flour, so it's best to start them the night before so you can let the batter sit overnight to increase digestibility.  Notice how light and white they are - like white flour pancakes, but much healthier. Everyone who tastes them loves them, even people who usually only eat wheat!

The method for this recipe is similar to the 'blender batter baking' method outlined in Sue Gregg's Breakfast cookbook.  I've made my version dairy free, but instead of using rice-almond milk I've gone back to the basic ingredients and added raw almonds and water to the rice flour, so it makes its' own milk. If you can't have nuts, just use 330g of your preferred milk instead of the almonds and water and skip step 2.

1. Place in Thermomix and grind on speed 9 for 1 minute or so until fine:
- 250g raw brown rice (see variations below for other grain options)


2. Add nuts and grind for another 30 seconds on speed 9:
- 30g raw almonds (or raw cashews)
   Scrape down lid and sides of bowl with spatula.

3. Add and mix for 30 seconds on speed 9:
- 300g water
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 30g macadamia oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4. Cover and leave to stand at room temperature overnight. (Or pour into a glass bowl and cover.)

5. When you're ready to cook them, add and reblend on speed 9 for 1 minute:
- 1 large egg (optional - works fine without)

6. Blend in quickly but thoroughly on speed 5-6:
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

7. Preheat waffle iron, wiping surface with some oil. Bake waffles until crispy, and serve immediately with butter and/or pure maple syrup. Or cook as pancakes in a little coconut oil in frypan. Delicious!

Variations:
You can use all sorts of grains in this recipe, not just brown rice...
try a mixture of rice & rolled oats, or spelt & oats (1 cup rice/spelt, 1/2 cup oats), or buckwheat (hulled) and/or spelt.

Any of these grains will work: spelt, oats, brown rice, kamut, millet, buckwheat (hulled), barley (hulled), corn (whole dry, not cornmeal), quinoa... corn takes more grinding and is very noisy, but it works well.

You can also add 1 tablespoon linseeds if you like.

And of course, if you want you can stir in some chopped pecans/walnuts/sunflower seeds/berries/banana pieces into the batter - we love blueberries and banana!

Have fun :)